
Book o & 



l^O 



JACQUES' NEW MANUAL 

OF THE 

(iarkt, Jf arm anlr ^ant-f artr, 



3£ 

EMBRACING 



PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE, AGRICULTURE, AND 
CATTLE, HORSE AND SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 

WITH rNSTBTTCTIONS TO 

CULTIVATE VEGETABLES, FRUIT, FLOWERS, ALL THE FIELD 

CROPS, EXECUTE THE DETAILS OF FARM WORK, AND 

BREED AND REAR THE VARIOUS SPECIES 

OF DOMESTIC ANXMAlJ-'. 



By D. H. JACQUES 

AUTHOB OF " THE HOUSE," " HOW TO DO BTJSnTESS,' 



$ew and &evi$$4 Edition. 

NEW YORK: 
THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 

89 AND 41 CHAMBERS STREET. 



ft 8-1-° j 



THE GAEDEE": 

A MANUAL 

OF 

Ipnuiial Jurtioliitn; 



OB, HOW TO CULTIVATE 

VEGETABLES, FRUITS, AND FLOWERS. 

EMBRACING 

AN EXPOSITION OF TIIE NATURE AND ACTION OP SOILS AND MANURES AND THB 

STRUCTURE AND GROWTH OP PLANTS; DIRECTIONS FOE THB FORMING A 

GARDEN; DE80EIPTI0N OP IMPLEMENTS AND FIXTURES J INSTBUO- 

TION8 FOR SOWING, TBANSPLANTING, BUDDING, GEAFTING, AND 

CULTIVATING VEGETABLES, FRUITS, AND FLOWERS; 

WITH A CHAPTER ON 

©tfttattuntal %xtt$ until $ft*tt&0. 

Br D. H. JACQUES, 

Author of "Thb Farm," "The House," "Tub Babn-Yabb," "How 
to do Business," "How to Behave," etc. 



Gardening ra the primitive employment of the first man ; sad the first of men, among Ml deacon- 
fjantt, have ever been attached to that occupation. Indeed, we can hardly form an Idea of human 
Solicit j-, m which a garden la not one of Its most prominent characteristic*.— T. G. Fssuhdkh. 



REVISED EDITXO 3>T. 



NEW YORK: 
THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 

89 AND 41 CHAMBERS STREET. 



a* 5 



Snteretl, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S70, by 

GEO. E . WOODWARD, 

the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for tie 
Southern District of New York. 

ay trbusit-i uv. 

f*t. Offloe Lite, 

4*41 1*14. 



PREFACE 



Thbbe are many excellent works on Gardening in the English 
language ; but there seemed to be room and a demand foi 
another. No other work fills just the place that this is intended 
to fill — no other quite meets the popular want which we have 
aimed to satisfy in this. 

We saw the need of a small, cheap work, embracing not only 
brief, simple, and easily understood directions for the cultivation 
of vegetables, fruits, and flowers, but also a succinct exposition 
of the theory of horticulture, as deduced from the nature of 
soils and manures, and the laws of vegetable life and growth ; 
to give the reader something to fall back upon, whenever the 
practical instructions, which can not be adapted to every change 
of circumstances, shall fail to furnish a sufficient guide. How 
well we have succeeded in meeting this need we leave the reader 
to judge. We will only say, that our little book has been care- 
fully prepared, and combines the results of experience, observa- 
tion, and study. In preparing it, we have aimed -simply at use- 
fulness, and have made no effort for the attainment of any 
further originality than the end in view required. We are neces- 
sarily placed under heavy obligations to our predecessors in the 
walks of horticultural literature ; but what we have derived from 
them has, in most cases, been re-written, and so modified, to 
adapt it to our purpose, that formal credit has, except in a few 



vi Preface. 

instances, been impracticable. Among the numerous works con- 
sulted, we take pleasure in acknowledging our indebtedness foi 
valuable aid to each and all of the following : 

e Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening. 
c Mrs. Loudon's Gardening for Ladies 

Delamer's Kitchen Garden. 
" Flower Garden. 

Neill's Gardener's Companion. 
c JBuist's Family Kitchen Gardener. 

Fessenden's American Kitchen Gardener. 

Every Lady Her Own Flower Gardener. 

Barry's Fruit Garden. 
e Downing'8 Fruits and Fruit-Trees, 
ojaques' Fruits and Fruit-Trees. 

Tucker's Annual Register. 

Farm and Garden Essays. 

Thorburn's Descriptive Catalogue* 
<* White's Gardening for the South. 

Horticulturist. 

Country Gentleman. 
©Southern Cultivator. 

Allen's American Farm Book. 

Boussingault's Economie Rurale. 

Downing' s Landscape Gardening. 
e Lindley's Theory of Horticulture. 

Gray's Botanical Text-Book. 
6 Darby's Botany of the Southern States. 

To the works marked thus (©) we are under special obligations, 
either for matter derived from them, or for valuable facts or sug- 
gestions made more indirectly available. 

Trusting that this little manual will be found worthy of a 
measure of the favor with which his previous humble attempts 
at usefulness has been received, the author now submits it to the 
judgment of the great Public. 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION. 

The Garden of Eden— History of Gardening— Attractions— No Frnits like Ooi 
Own— Gardening favorable to Health— The Science of Horticulture— Object 
of this Work— How to Use it Page 9-11 

I.— STRUCTURE AND GROWTH OF PLANTS. 

Germination— Conditions Essential to Germination— Time Required— The 
Process— The Boot— How Boots Grow— Functions of the Boot— Kinds 
of Boots— The Stem-Structure— Uses— Leaves— Structure and Functions- 
Flowers and their Structure— Fruit— Growth and Bipening— The Food of 
Plants— State in which it must be Taken up— Conditions Essential to Growth 
- Warmth, Moisture, Food, Air, Light 13-29 

H.— SOILS AND MANURES. 

Classification of Soils— Heavy Soils— Light Soils— Loamy Soils- Calcareous 
Soils— Marley Soils— Vegetable Mold— Alluvial Soils— Subsoils— Improve- 
ment of Soils— Manures— Theory of Manures— Composts 80-40 

IE.— FORMATION OF A GARDEN. 

flitaation— Exposure — Size and Shape — Laying Out— Fencing— Hedges— Prep- 
aration of the Soil— Draining— Trenching— Subsoil Plowing 41-46 

IV.— IMPLEMENTS AND FIXTURES. 

The Various Implements Eequired— Care of Implements— Fixtures— The 
Walled Pit— Hot Beds-Trellises— Eustic Structures 46-50 

V.— HORTICULTURAL PROCESSES. 

Stirring the Soil— Applying Manures— Forcing— Sowing Seeds— Transplanting 
— Watering — Hoeing— Protection from Frost -Mulching — Destroying In- 
sects—Saving Seeds— Eotation of Crops— Propagation— Suckers— Layers- 
Cuttings— Slips— Budding— Grafting - Pruning— Training 51-79 



vlii Contents. 



VI.— THE KITCnEN GARDEN. 

Esculent Eoc/ts — The Legumes— The Cabbage Family— Spinaceous Plants— 
Asparaginous Plants— Esculent Bulbs— Salad Plants— The Cucumber Family 
— The Pumpkin Family— Miscellaneous— Sweet Herbs 78-110 

VII.— THE FRUIT GARDEN. 

The Apple— Origin— Varieties— Difficulty of Selecting— List of Summer Ap- 
ples—Autumn Apples— Winter Apples— Crab Apples— Culture— Gathering 
and Preserving— The Pear -Lists of Pears— The Quince— Varieties— The 
Peach, with Lists of Varieties— The Nectarine— The Apricot— The Cherry— 
The Olive— The Orange— The Lemon— The Grape— T;he Currant— The 
Gooseberry-The Easpberry— The BlackUrry— The Strawberry— The Fig— 
The Pomegranate— The Mulberry 111-142 

Vin.— THE FLOWER GARDEN. 

Uses of Flowers— A Word to the Ladies— How to become Healthy and Strong 
-Implements for Ladies' Use— Laying Out a Flower Garden— Arrangement 
of Plants— Climbing Plants — Shrubs and Trees— General Directions— Lists 
of Flowering Plants and Shrubs — Hardy Annuals— Hardy Biennials— Hardy 
Perennials— Tuberous Eooted Plants — Bulbous Eooted Plants -Flowering 
Shrubs— Climbers and Creepers 148-156 

IX.— ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS. 

General Hints— Picturesqueness— Pruning— American Trees— Transplanting 
—Lists of Trees— Large Trees— Deciduous and Evergreen— Small Trees and 
Shrubs— Hedge Plants 157-161 

APPENDIX. 

The Bearing Year— Cause of Diminished Fertility— Eemoving Large Trees- 
New Varieties of the Potato— Luxuries of a Fmit Garden— Hyacinths Id 
Glasses— Ewes for Pot-Culture 162-144 



INTRODUCTION 



It is -written that God placed the first man in a garden to drew 
and to keep it ; and that woman was there created as a help 
meet for him. That garden was the primitive paradise ; and to 
this day, a tastefully planned, judiciously planted, and well-kept 
garden has, still lingering about it, many of the charms we are 
wont to attribute to the original Eden. To the true lover of rural 
life it seems, in the fullness of its summer beauty, to be indeed 
almost a Paradise Eegained. 

Gardens are frequently mentioned in ancient writings, both 
sacred and profane, but little is told us either of their productions 
or their cultivation. 

At the close of the Koman commonwealth the catalogue of 
cultivated fruits had become considerable, and the principles of 
pruning and grafting were understood and practiced. "With the 
decline of the empire, horticulture, in common with other useful 
arts, seems to have declined, and to have revived only when 
learning arose from the slumber of the dark ages. Since that 
time, it has kept pace with the general improvement of society. 
England, France, and Belgium have taken the lead in modern 
horticultural progress. The United States will not long remain 
behind. 

It would be interesting tc trace, at considerable length, the 
1* 



x Introduction. 

history of gardening, and show how, both as an art and as a science, 
it has been perfected, step by step, by means of study, observation, 
and experiment ; but our limits will not permit this course, and 
we must refer the inquiring reader to " Loudon's Encyclopedia of 
Gardening," the most thorough and complete work on the sub- 
ject in the English language. It is, however, too large and 
expensive to be generally accessible, except in public libraries. 

Gardening, the earliest employment of man, is also the most 
attractive. It is Emerson, we think, who says, that after work- 
ing in one's garden, nothing else seems worth doing. Here we 
seem to come into close communion with Nature, and to co- 
operate with her in adorning and enriching the earth. To plant 
one's seeds, to await hopefully their germination, to watch the 
daily development of the tender plant, to protect it from the 
encroachments of weeds and the attacks of insects, to loosen the 
soil around it, to care for it, watch over it, and rejoice in it« 
growth and fruitage, and finally to enjoy the fruits of one's labors 
in the ripened harvest — what mere sensuous pleasure can be 
greater? The market affords no such pears, apples, peaches, or 
plums as grow on the trees we have with our own hands grafted 
and pruned. Our own squashes and melons are sweeter than any 
that our money could buy ; and no potatoes, or cabbages, or 
turnips are like ours ! 

And health flows to us from the garden in two broad streams. 
One has its source in the invigorating out-door exercise it calls for 
and renders so delightful, and the other in the wholesome food 
which it furnishes to take the place of much less desirable ali- 
ments which would otherwise be supplied by the butcher and the 
grocer. 

A taste for horticulture is almost universal in this country, and, 
as land is abundant and cheap, and the facilities for obtaining it 
great, very few outside of our cities and large towns are debarred 
from gratifying it, to a greater or less extent. 



Introduction. xi 

But a knowledge of the science of horticulture is far from being 
co-extensive with the practice of the art, and a truly satisfactory 
degree of success is only occasionally attained. A rich soil and a 
genial climate conspire to render the rudest and most empirical 
cultivation, under favorable circumstances, moderately produc- 
tive. Plodding industry, however blindly applied, is looked upon 
with favor by all-loving Nature ; but her richest gifts are reserved 
for united science and skill. In the cultivation of the earth, ah 
in every other department of human effort, " knowledge is 
power." 

To increase and extend a knowledge of the theory and practice 
of gardening is the object of the following pages, in which we 
have given due attention to both branches of the subject. The 
former is almost entirely ignored in most popular works on hor- 
ticulture ; they being nearly restricted to details of practice. 
These, though highly useful and even essential to the novice, are 
liable to lead him frequently astray, unless he is guided in their 
application by a knowledge of the principles on which they are 
founded. 

The theoretical part of our work is necessarily brief, but will be 
found a useful auxiliary to the practical directions which follow. 
Carefully studied, thoroughly mastered, and constantly applied, 
it will be of more value to the reader than a heavy volume imper- 
fectly understood and confusedly remembered. We would by no 
means, however, discourage those who have the leisure and dis- 
position from pursuing the subject farther. 



NOTICE TO THE READER. 



In making use of the practical directions given in this work, 
the reader should bear in mind that it was written in southern 
New York, and that where no other place or latitude is men- 
tioned, in designating the time for planting seeds, etc., about 40° 
N., with a very slight elevation above the sea, is to be under- 
stood. Allowance must be made for situation north or south of 
this, and also for elevation of site, soil, aspect, exposure, and the 
general character of the season. 

Our directions must also, of necessity, be subject to many 
modifications, in other respects, by soil, situation, and climate ; 
but if the reader will study the general principles of horticulture, 
even in our brief and imperfect exposition of them, in the first 
part of this work, and exercise a little sound judgment, he will 
leadily overcome the obstacles presented by local and temporary 
circumstances. 



THE GARDEN. 



TKOCTOKE JND GROWTH OF PLANTS. 



With what increased satisfaction are the common processes of manuring or transplanting 
»«rried on, to say nothing of the more delicate operations of budding, grafting, and propagating 
Dy layers, etc., when we are acquainted with the structure of the plants we are endeavoring to 
control, nd comprehend the why and the wherefore of every step we pursue.— A. J. Downing. 

I.-GEEMINATION. 

VERY perfect and matured seed contains the 
germ of a new plant of the species to which 
it owes its own existence. If you separate 
the two lobes of a bean, or other seed of a 
similar character, you will discover, pressed 
between them at the undivided or stem end, 
or side, a minute kernel or bud. This, though a 
mere point, as it were, contains the rudiments of two 
or more undeveloped leaves, united by a solid or undi- 
vided portion, called, in the language of botany, the 
radicle, and constitutes an embryo plant, holding within 
itself all the elements of vegetable life. The commencement 
of the vital action which produces the development of this 
embryo is called germination. 

The conditions essential to germination are the presence of 
moisture, warmth, and oxygen gas. 

In the absence of moisture, no effect toward germination is 
produced by the presence of warmth and oxygen, or any other 
gas. Moisture and oxygen gas without warmth, are equally 




14 



The Garden. 



inefficacious ; .mdso are moisture and warmth in the absence of 
the oxygen ; for seeds will not germinate in a vacuum, nor in 
distilled or recently- boiled water. 

Moisture is necessary to soften and expand the various parts, 
to dissolve soluble matter, and to establish a sort of circulation. 
The embryo seems also to have the power of decomposing 
water; and it is probable that a portion of the oxygen required 
is obtained in this way. The rest must come from the air; for 
it is found that a communication with the atmosphere is abso- 
lutely essential to perfect germination. The effect of heat ap- 
pears to be to set the vital principle in action, to expand the 
air in the numerous microscopic cavities of the seed, and to 
produce distension of all the organic parts. The degree of 
heat required varies with different species. The common 
chickweed will germinate at a temperature but little above the 
freezing-point, while the seeds of many tropical plants require 
a heat of from 90° to 110° (Fahrenheit) to call them into 
action. Wheat, rye, and barley will germinate at 44°. A 

degree of heat vary- 
ing from 113° to 
167° is capable of 
destroying the vital- 
ity of the various 
grains, beans, peas, 
etc. Direct light, 
so essential to sub- 
sequent vegetation, 
is unfavorable to 
germination. 

The time required 
for germination is 
very different in dif- 
ferent species of 
plants. Much also 
depends upon soil, 

!KO FO.DI8H, SHOWINO SEED-LEAVES. CllUiatC, degree 01 




Stbuctuee and Growth. 15 

moisture, etc. Under favorable circumstances, wheat, rye, 
oats, and millet will germinate in one day ; bean, turnip, radish, 
and mustard in three days ; lettuce in four days ; melon, cucum- 
ber, squash, and pumpkin in five days ; barley in seven ; cabbage 
in ten ; parsley in fifteen ; almond, peach, and peony in one 
year, and hawthorn in two years. 

The time that seeds will retain their vitality also differs in 
different species, but in all cases depends partly upon the degree 
in which they are excluded from the action of moisture and 
light. Kidney-beans, peas, and carrot, parsnep, and rhubarb 
seeds are generally considered as losing their vitality at the end 
of one year, but will sometimes germinate after being kept 
much longer. 

These facts have important bearings upon the subject of 
horticulture, and should be constantly borne in mind; and 
especially is it requisite that the essential conditions of germi- 
nation be held in remembrance. A failure to germinate is 
doubtless often attributed to bad seeds, when the fault is en- 
tirely in the planting. It must be perfectly evident that if your 
seeds are insufficiently covered in a light, dry soil, they will 
lack the first essential of germination, and will be liable to 
wither and perish for want of moisture. This is why light 
soils should be pressed together and upon the seed in planting, 
either by means of a roller or otherwise. Seeds buried too 
deeply, or covered with a heavy, dense soil, pressed too closely 
upon them, fail to germinate for want of communication with 
the atmosphere. If there be not sufficient warmth in the soil 
at the time of planting, and it remain cold for a considerable 
time thereafter, the seeds just as surely perish. Eemember the 
conditions of germination — moisture, warmth, and oxygen gas 
(or ah* containing oxygen). 

Germination being established by the action of moisture and 
warmth, and maintained by the oxygen of the atmosphere, all 
parts of the embryo enlarge, and new parts are formed at the 
expense of a saccharine or sugary secretion, which the germinat- 
ing seed possesses the power of forming. With the assistance 



16 The Garden. 

of this substance, the root or radicle, at first a mere rounded 
cone, extends and pierces the earth in search of food, while 
the other extremity elongates in the opposite direction, bringing 
the cotyledons, or seed-leaves (except when these remain per- 
manently in the ground, as in the pea, wheat, rye. etc.), and 
the rudimentary leaves and stem, to the surface of the soil. 
The process of germination is now completed — the plant is 
born. 

II.— THE BOOT. 

The root, the stem, and the leaves are called the fundamental 
organs of plants. Of them vegetables essentially consist ; and 
the various organs known by other names are really but repeti- 
tions, under more or less modified forms, of these essential parts. 

Germination, as we have seen, pushes the root downward 
into the earth, where, extending by the addition of new matter 
to its point, it soon enters upon the exercise of its function — 
the absorption of the crude food of the plant from the soil. 
This is carried up through the stem into the leaves, to be di- 
gested or assimilated, and returned to the stem and root, and 
used in the formation of new branches, leaves, and rootlets, as 
well as for increasing the length and size of those already 
formed. The more a plant grows, therefore, the more are the 
means of growth multiplied. 

As the roots are extended by the addition of new matter to 
the extreme points, these points are exceedingly delicate and 
sasily injured. It is mainly through them, too, that absorption 
takes place. It is readily seen, therefore, why the careless or 
unskillful removal of plants from the earth, for the purpose of 
transplanting, by destroying the delicate points of the roots, or 
spongelets, as they are called, always checks so greatly their 
growth, and often destroys their life. 

Their peculiar mode of growth admirably adapt roots to 
pierce the earth and insinuate themselves into the minutest 
crevices. Thus they pass on from place to place in search of 
fresh pasturage, shifting their mouths, although their bodies 
remain stationary. 



Structure and Growth. IT 

Eoots seem to possess a principle akin to instinct, which 
guides them in their search for food ; for they invariably extend 
themselves most rapidly and widely in the direction of the 
richest soil. If a strawberry plant be set in a sandy soil, defi- 
cient in nutritive matters, and rich earth placed on one side of 
it, the roots will immediately seek the fertile spot, although at 
first nowhere in contact with it. A decaying bone or a piece 
of rotten wood will in the same way be sought out by the 
roots of a plant requiring the nutritive elements it may contain ; 
and such objects are often found completely covered by a net- 
work of minute rootlets. 

The roots of plants have, to a certain extent, the power of 
selecting their food. In general, they absorb only those sub- 
stances which are needed to develop and perfect their various 
parts. Thus, if a pea and a grain of wheat be planted side by 
side, and made to grow under the same circumstances, the 
wheat plant will absorb silex (in solution) from the earth, while 
the pea will absorb none. This power of selection, however, 
does not enable the roots of plants to reject, under all circum- 
stances, any deleterious agents which may be brought in con- 
tact with them; and it is a curious circumstance that sub- 
stances which are fatal to man are equally so to plants, and in 
nearly the same way. 

In addition to their principal office, as feeding organs, the 
roots of plants are believed to be, to some extent, organs of 
excretion, throwing off any superfluous or deleterious matter 
which may have been imbibed either by themselves or by the 
leaves. They also possess the power of accumulating a store 
of sap, upon which the plant may draw in time of need. 
Striking examples of the last-named property are furnished by 
tha turnip, the beet, the carrot, and other plants of the sanw* 
class. 

In general, roots do not produce buds, and are therefore 
incapable of multiplying the plant to which they belong ; but 
to this rule there are many exceptions, some species having 
the power, under certain circumstances, of forming what are 



18 



The Garden. 



called adventitious buds. In such cases they may be employed 
for the purposes of propagation. 

Roots are not inactive during the winter, as many suppose, 
except while actually frozen, but are perpetually extracting food 
from the earth, and storing it up for the next season's use. A 
long, mild winter is there- 
fore favorable to the vege- 
tation of the succeeding 
spring. 

Roots are of various 
kinds. In reference to 
their duration, they are 
classed as annual, bien- 
nial, and perennial. An 
FiBBous boot. annual root lives but a spindle boot 

single year. It is always fibrous, or composed of numerous 
branches or rootlets. Biennial roots are those of plants which 
do not blossom till the second year, at the end of which they 
perish. They are thickened or fleshy, and of various shapes — 
conical, as in the carrot; spindle-shaped, as in the radish ; tur> 






TUBEROUS BOOT. 



OEEEPINO BOOT. 



nip-shaped, clustered, tuberous, ate. Perennial roots are those 
which, like the roots of trees cad woody plants, and some 
others, survive from year to year indefinitely. 

A tuber, of which the potato is the best example, is not 
strictly a root, but a modification of the stem, running beneath 



Structure and Growth. 19 

the surface of the soil, and having buds (eyes) embedded in a 
cellular substance, consisting principally of stareh. 

Bulbs, whether formed in the earth, as is generally the case, 
or on the summit of the stem, as in the top or tree onion, are 
simply leaf-buds inclosed in scales or concentric layers. 

III.— THE STEM. 

As soon as the root enters upon the performance of its proper 
function, the stem begins to extend itself upward, and the pri- 
mary leaf-bud, attracting to itself the food procured for it, and 
ft part of the nutritive matter stored up in the seed-leaves, ex- 
'pands, and the two or more parts or leaves of which it is 
composed separate, and begin to manifest their distinctive 
features. 

The stem is at first composed entirely of cellular tissue, 
possessing neither strength nor tenacity ; but at the moment 
that the first rudiment of a leaf appears upon its growing point, 
the formation of woody matter commences. It consists of tough 
fibers of extreme fineness, which take their rise in the leaves, 
and thence pass downward through the cellular tissue and are 
incorporated with the latter, giving it tbe necessary strength 
and flexibility. In trees and shrubs these fibers combine 
intimately with each other, and form what is properly called 
wood ; but in herbaceous and annual plants they constitute a 
lax fibrous matter. The woody matter thus plunged, as it 
were, into the cellular tissue, forms within the circumference 
of the stem a tubular partition, separating it into two parts — 
the bark and the pith. Tbis gives us, in perennial stems, the 
three general divisions of pith, wood, and bark. 

The pith consists entirely of cellular tissue, gorged at first 
with the nourishing juices of the plant, but afterward becom 
ing empty and dry. 

The wood consists of the proper woody fiber, interwoven 
with and bound together by thin plates or layers of cellular 
tissue, passing horizontally across it, and forming what are 
called the silver grain in maple, oak, etc. They represent the 



20 



The Gaeden. 



horizontal system of the wood — in botanical language, the 
medullary rays. 

The lark consists originally of cellular tissue alone, but after- 
ward the inner portion next the wood has the woody tissue 
formed in it, and becomes the liber, or fibrous inner bark. 

"Whenever a stem is wounded, it is the cellular or horizontal 
system which forms granulations that eventually coalesce into 
masses, within which the woody tissue is subsequently devel- 
oped, and the communication between the two sides of an inci- 
sion effected. In cuttings, the callus which forms at the end 
placed in the ground is the cellular or horizontal system pre- 
paring for the woody fibers, which are to pass downward in 
the form of roots. 

The description we have given of the structure of a stem 
applies to all plants whose woody matter is augmented annually 
Dy external additions below the liber, and which are called exo- 
gens, or outside growers. All the trees and shrubs of the 
United States, except the few palms of our Southern confines, 
belong to this class. In the palms, which belong to the clasa 
of endogens, or inside 
growers, the woody 
matter is augmented 
annually by internal 
additions to their cen- 
ter, thus constantly 
bxogen. pushing the woody endogbn. 

growth of former years to their circumference. The stem of 
the asparagus exhibits a similar structure in an herb. In endo- 
gens, the cellular and fibrous systems are all mixed together, 
their mode of growth not requiring the same arrangement of 
parts as exists in the exogens. 

Stems, during their growth, form on their surfaces minute 
vital points, each of which becomes, or may become, a leaf- 
bud, capable of forming another stem or branch like that on 
which it is found. These buds appear immediately above the 
point of unioi* between the leaf and the stem, and are not, 






Structure and Growth. 21 

under ordinary circumstances, found anywhere else. They 
occasionally, however, appear on other parts, when they are 
called (as when found on the roots) adventitious huds. It 
is by means of the leaf-buds that a cutting is capable of pro- 
ducing a new individual like that from which it was taken. 
Leaf-buds are also capable, under fitting cir- 
cumstances, of growing when separated from 
the parent branch. In some cases they are 
planted in the earth, when they put forth roots, 
and thereby sustain an independent existence. 
In others they are inserted below the bark 
of a kindred species, and, forming new wood, 
adhere to that on which they are placed. 

The principal functions of the stem (aside 
from its continual multiplication of itself by bttdb. 

means of buds) are the support of the leaves and the convey- 
ance and distribution of the sap. In trees, the sap or orude 
food procured by the roots rises principally through the newer 
wood ; but the assimilated sap returns from the leaves in the 
newest bark, or liber, whence it is horizontally diffused, through 
the medullary rays, into the sap-wood and other living parts. 
It is in the bark, therefore, and not in the wood, that we must 
look for the proper juices of a plant. 

IV.— LEAVES. 

A leaf, as defined by Dr. Lindley, is an appendage of the 
stem of a plant having one or more leaf-buds in its axil, or 
point of union with the stem. In some cases no leaf-buds are 
visible, but they are present, nevertheless, although latent, and 
may be developed by favorable conditions. 

A complete leaf consists of the lamina, or blade, and the 
petiole, or leaf-stalk. In some leaves the petiole is wanting, 
the lamina resting immediately upon the stem, and in others 
there is no proper blade, the whole organ being cylindrical or 
stalk-like. 

Considered in reference to their structure, it may be said 



22 The Garden. 

leaves are extensions of the green layer of the hark (which, 
where no proper leaves exist, fulfills their function) expanded 
into thin lamina and strengthened hy woody fibers connected 
with the liber, or inner bark, and with the wood. These woody 
fibers form their frame-work, and afford, at the same time, by 
their microscopic ramifications, a complete and beautiful system 
of veins. The leaf, therefore, like the stem, consists of two 
distinct parts, the cellular and the woody. The cellular por- 
tion is not the structureless, pulpy mas6 which it appears to be 
to the naked eye, but presents a regular and beautiful arrange- 
ment of cells. The woody part forming the veins, and having, 
as we have seen, a double origin, is arranged in two layers ; the 
upper, arising from the wood, and conveying the ascending 
sap to every part of the leaf, and the lower, connected with 
the liber, and establishing a communication with the bark, by 
means of which the assimilated juices pass downward. En- 
casing the whole of this wonderfully beautiful apparatus is the 
epidermis, or skin, pierced by numerous invisible pores or holes, 
called stomates, through which the plant breathes and per- 
spires. 

It would be interesting, in connection with the foregoing 
brief outline of the structure of the leaf, to give some account 
of the different forms of leaves, their various modifications, 
and their systematic and beautiful arrangement on the stem ; 
but as the practical ends we have in view do not require us to 
pursue the subject further in this direction, we must forego it. 

Leaves have been called the lungs of plants. They are 
something more than this, being not only organs of respiration, 
but of perspiration and digestion also. They are, at the same 
time, stomach, lungs, and skin. They receive the crude sap 
from the roots through the stem, and, by means of exposure to 
air and light, the decomposition of water and carbonic acid, 
and the throwing off of superfluous moisture, condense it and 
change it into organizable matter — the true food of plants. 
This elaborated sap is sent immediately downward, to serve for 
the nourishment of every part. 



Structure and Growth. 23 

The nutrition of a plant depending npon its leaves, the former 
may he destroyed hy simply destroying its foliage. In general, 
it does not immediately die, hecause it has the power of putting 
forth new leaves, which come into action and supply imper- 
fectly the places of those removed ; hut if it be deprived of 
these essential organs during the entire season, its power of 
producing them ceases, and all functions are suspended. 

V.— FLOWEKS AND FRUIT. 

A flower is that part of a plant which is formed for the pur- 
pose of reproducing its species by means of seeds. Fruit is 
the seed, or the seed and its pericarp, or covering. The peri- 
carp includes whatever goes to make up the seed-vessel, 
whether it be a mere thin husk, a hard, bone-like shell, or a 
soft, fleshy pulp. 

- Anatomically considered, the parts of a flower are merely 
modified leaves, the whole forming a very short branch. 
"What causes a plant to convert some of its leaf-buds into 
flowers, by fashioning the leaves into calyx, corolla, stamens, 
and pistils, while other buds become ordinary branches, it ia 
not essential to our purpose to explain. It is pretty clear, 
however, that their production depends upon the presence in 
the plant of a sufficient quantity of secreted matter, fit for 
their maintenance when produced. If it happen, then, that, 
from any cause, there be not, at the usual time of flowering, 
any store of nutritive juices beyond what is required for the 
.production of leaves and the growth of the stem, no flower- 
buds are put forth. This is illustrated in the failure of fruit- 
trees to bear at all the season next succeeding one in which an 
excessive crop has been produced.* Sometimes flowers are 
produced, but, the supply of nutriment proving insufficient, 
they drop off without producing fruit. 

Lindley syllogistically says: "A flower being a kind of 
branch, as has been already shown, and the fruit being an ad- 

* See Appendix, A. 



24 The Gaiiden. 

vanccd stage of the flower, it follows that a fruit is also a kind 
of branch." It has certainly the same organic connection with 
the plant as other branches, and, like them, requires to be sup- 
plied with focd, without which it must perish. 

So long as a fruit retains its original green, foliaceous char- 
acter, it is capable of performing, partially at least, the func- 
tions of a leaf, decomposing carbonic acid, etc. A portion of 
the food required for its maturation may therefore be derived, 
by its own action, from the air ; but the greater part must be 
prepared by the leaves from material furnished by the roots. 
This shows the necessity of the healthy and regular action of 
the leaves and roots in perfecting fruit, and the importance of 
fruit being placed near the leaves, so that it can readily attract 
the required nutriment from them. If you remove all the 
leaves from a branch containing fruit, you stop the growth of 
the latter almost as effectually as by separating it from the 
stem. 

The juices furnished by the leaves undergo further altera- 
tions by the vital forces of the fruit itself, and this alteration 
varies according to the species. The fruit of the peach is 
sweet, but there is no perceptible sweetness in its leaves ; and 
the fruit of the fig is sweet and nutritious, while the leaves of 
that plant are acrid and deleterious. 

Among the principal immediate causes of the changes which 
occur in the secretions of fruits are heat and light. Fruits 
produced in warm seasons are always much sweeter than those 
which are matured in cold ones ; and the products of hot cli- 
mates abound in sugar, while in those of cold climates acidity 
prevails. 

The ripening of fruit is hastened by dryness, and retarded 
by an excess of moisture. 

Seeds are affected by all the circumstances which affect the 
fruit, which is created primarily for their nutrition and preser- 
vation. The fruit attracts organizable matter from the leaves, 
and the seeds attract it from the fruit. The better the fruit, 
therefore, the more perfect are the seeds. 



Structure and Growth. 25 

All seeds -will not equally produce vigorous plants ; but the 
healthiness of the seedling will correspond with that of the 
seed from which it sprung. Where vigor is required, the 
plumpest and heaviest seeds should be selected. 

A seed always produces a plant of the same species as that 
from which it was derived, but is not certain to reproduce any 
peculiarity that may have existed in its parent. For instance, 
the seed of a Green Gage plum will grow into a new individual 
of the plum species, but it is not certain, or even likely, to pro- 
duce the variety known as the Green Gage. The variety must 
be propagated in some other way. 

VI.— THE FOOD OF PLANTS. 

The gardener should know precisely what substances plants 
require for their growth and the maturation of their fruit — 
that is, their natural food. This is ascertained by analysis. 
When we have learned of what plants are composed, we know 
what their food must necessarily contain. 

The constituents of plants, as shown by analysis, are of two 
kinds, organic and inorganic. Only the organic constituents, 
however, are universally indispensable. These are oxygen, 
hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon, which make up at least from 
eighty-eight to ninety-nine per cent, of every vegetable sub- 
stance. The inorganic constituents, which are essential to the 
perfection of any but the lowest grade of plants, consist mainly 
of potash, soda, lime, magnesia, alumina, silex, sulphur, and 
phosphorus. 

Now, where and how are the different kinds of food which 
plants require obtained ? Mainly, no doubt, from the soil, and 
by means of the roots, which, we have seen, are the proper 
feeding organs. The air may, however (and evidently does, in 
some cases, as in the epiphytes, or air-plants), either directly 01 
indirectly, supply all the organic elements. 

But whether derived from the earth cr from the air, the 
vtanfs nourishment is wholly received either in the gaseous or 
the liquid form ; for the leaves can imbibe air or vapor only 



26 The Garden. 

while the tissue of the rootlets is especially adapted to absorb 
liquids, and is incapable of talcing in solid matter, however 
minutely divided. Let these facts be borne in mind while pre- 
paring your soils and manures. 

The oxygen and hydrogen required by plants is probably de- 
rived principally from water. 

The nitrogen is obtained mostly by the decomposition of 
ammonia (hartshorn), a compound of hydrogen and nitrogen, 
always produced when any animal and almost any vegetable 
substance decays. It is dissolved in water, absorbed by porous 
substances in the soil, and thus furnished to the roots of plants. 

The source of the carbon, which forms much the larger por- 
tion of the bulk of plants, is still to be sought. Carbon itself 
is a solid, absolutely insoluble in water, and therefore not avail- 
able. The chief, if not the only fluid composed of carbon, 
naturally presented to the plant, is that of carbonic acid gas, 
which consists of carbon united with oxygen. This gas makes 
up, on the average, one two-thousandth of the atmosphere, 
from which it may be directly absorbed by the leaves; but, 
being freely soluble in water, up to a certain point, it must be 
carried down by tbe rain and imbibed by the roots. The car- 
bonic acid of the atmosphere is, therefore, the great source of 
carbon for vegetation. Carbonic acid is also produced in small 
quantities by the action of manures in the soil. 

The carbonic acid absorbed is decomposed in the leaves by 
the action of solar light; the carbon being retained and tbo 
oxygen thrown off — beautifully reversing the process of animal 
respiration, and thus preserving the proper balance in the 
atmosphere. 

The mineral matters which form the inorganic constituents 
of plants are all either soluble in water, or in the acids or alka- 
lies mixed with it, and are therefore readily absorbed by the 
roots. 

The following analysis of wheat will give the reader an idea 
of the principal mineral constituents of plants generally, as to 
the number of their elements; their proportion will vary 



Structure and Growth. 27 

greatly in different species. The wheat (the entire plant, in- 
cluding the seed) in 1,000 lbs. gave 11| lbs. of ashes, composed 
as follows : 

Potash 2.25 | Silica. 4.00 

Soda 2.40 | Sulphuric acid 50 

Lime 96 Phosphoric acid 40 

Magnesia 90 Chlorine 10 

Alumina 26 | Iron, a trace. 

An analysis of perfected plants of the same species, although 
growing in very different soils, will give the same proportion ; 
while different species, although growing in the same soil, will 
give very different proportions, showing that plants require 
definite quantities of the inorganic elements in order to perfect 
growth, and that in soil that does not yield these elements an 
imperfect growth only can be obtained. 

These facts lie at the foundation of rotation of crops and 
manuring. "When any given plant has exhausted the soil of 
the soluble elements requisite for its growth, another plant 
requiring different elements, or the same in different propor- 
tions, may grow luxuriantly and in perfection in the same soil. 
Generally the grasses, such as wheat, rye, oats, etc., require 
large quantities of silica ; peas, clover, and tobacco, much lime ; 
turnips, beets, and sweet potatoes, potash and soda. The stalk 
and fruit often require different elements in different proportions. 
Both of course must be supplied. These elements might exist 
in the soil, but not in a soluble condition, and of course yield 
no benefit to the plant.* 

VII.— CONDITIONS ESSENTIAL TO GEOWTH. 

All the conditions essential to growth have already been 
either specially explained or incidentally mentioned ; but it may 
be useful briefly to recapitulate : 

1. Warmth. — "Without this, as we have seen, the latent 
powers of vegetable life can not be called into action. It is 

• See Appendix, B and also " The Farm," foi more on this point 



28 The Garden. 

not less essential to their continued activity. Although many 
plants will live at a temperature much below the freezing-point, 
yet no plant is able to grow unless the temperature is above 
32°, for physical reasons which require no explanation. A 
temperature permanently much higher than a plant requires for 
its healthy growth over-excites, enfeebles, and finally destroys it. 

2. Moisture. — Moisture is obviously essential, both because 
water itself in its pure state furnishes two of the essential ele- 
ments which enter into the composition of all plants, and 
because it constitutes the medium through which the other 
substances required are conveyed into the roots. Excessive 
moisture, however, is destructive to most plants. It is a great 
point in horticulture to determine the degree of moisture most 
congenial to a given species, under given circumstances. As a 
general rule, the plant should be most abundantly supplied with 
moisture when it begins to grow, and the quantity gradually 
diminished as it approaches maturity. However, as one effect 
of excessive moisture is to keep the newly-formed parts of a 
plant tender and succulent, those the leaves or roots of which 
(as in the case of lettuce, radishes, etc.) are to be eaten un- 
cooked, should be constantly supplied with moisture. Excess 
of moisture will also cause strawberries and other fruits to 
swell beyond their natural size ; but their flavor is diminished 
in the same proportion. 

3. Food. — A plant can no more live without food than a 
human being can. Deficiency of food dwarfs it, and prevents 
perfect development; and it must not be forgotten that the 
presence in the soil of the nutritive elements is of no avail so 
long as they remain in an insoluble condition. It is only in a 
gaseous or liquid form (allow us to repeat) that plants are ca- 
pable of receiving their food. 

4. Air. — Plants breathe (in their way), and must therefore 
have air. Much of their nourishment is derived either imme- 
diately or remotely from it. 

5. Light. — It is by the aid of solar light alone that the leaves 
can properly perforin their grand function — the assimilation of 



Structure astd Growth. 29 

the crude sap furnished them by the roots. It is only under 
the influence of light that they decompose the carbonic acid 
gas from which the large proportion of carbon they require is 
obtained. It is to light also that they owe their green color. 
In the dark this coloring matter is not formed, potatoes and 
other vegetables kept in cellars throwing out white stems and 
leaves. Some plants, however, require less light than others, 
and flourish in shady places. "When we wish to blanch a plant, 
as in the case of celery, we exclude the light.* 



* For a further elucidation of the various subjects discussed iu the forogoing 
pages, see Lindley's "Theory of Horticulture," Gray's "Botanical Text- 
Book," Boussingault's " Econ&mie Rurale," and Darby's "Botany of the 
Southern States," to all of which, and especially to the flrst-named, wo amvo 
been indebted in the preparation of this chapter 



SO The Garden. 



II. 

SOUS AND MANURES. 

Re soli should be goud to the depth of two feet, and any necessary deepening beyoad tbta, 
fty manures or otherwise, should not be neglected.— Seal. 

I.— CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS. 

E are accustomed to recognize three prim- 
itive earths — silex (which includes sand 
and gravel), clay, and lime. These, to- 
gether with decayed vegetable and animal 
matter, enter more or less into the compo- 
sition of all soils. On the relative propor- 
tion of these ingredients and their texture, or degree 
of fineness or coarseness, depends mainly the character 
of each variety. 

Soils may first he considered in two grand divisions 
— heavy and light, the former being characterized by 
a predominance of clay, and the latter by an excess of sand or 
gravel. 

1. Heavy Soils. — The heavy or clayey soils are also known 
as wet and cold, from their strong affinity for water. In dry 
weather, however, they are liable to bake, or become hard an, 
brick-like. They are difficult to work, and, till much niodifiev. 
by art and labor, generally unproductive. 

2. Light Soils. — The light or sandy and gravelly soils are 
denominated dry and warm, because they permit the water to 
pass readily through them. They are subject to drouth, and 
have the further disadvantage of allowing a large proportion 
of the manure applied to them to pass through into the sub- 
Boil. They are easy to work, and crops can be brought to per- 
fection much earlier on them than on clayey soils. 




Soils ani> Manttees. 31 

These grand classes of soils, running into each other by 
imperceptible gradations, and being variously modified, may -be 
considered as embracing every variety found on the face of the 
globe. 

3. Loamy Soils. — A mixture of from fifteen to sixty per 
cent, of sand with clay forms a loamy soil. If the sand do not 
exceed thirty per cent., it is called a clay loam; more than 
thirty per cent, constitutes it a sandy loam. 

4. Calcareous Soils. — Calcareous soils are those in which 
lime, exceeding twenty per cent., becomes the distinguishing 
constituent. Calcareous soils may be either calcareous clays, 
calcareous sands, or calcareous loams, according to the propor- 
tions of sand or clay which may be present in them. 

5. Marly Soils. — Soils containing lime, but in which the 
proportion does not exceed twenty per cent., are sometimes 
called marly. 

6. Vegetable Molds. — "When decayed vegetable matter exists 
in so great proportion as to give the predominant character to 
a soil, it receives the name of vegetable mold. Vegetable 
molds are of various kinds, and may be either clayey, sandy, or 
loamy, according to the predominant character of the earthy 
admixtures. 

7. Alluvial Soils. — Alluvial soils are such as have been 
formed by the washings of streams. They are generally loamy, 
and very fertile. 

Besides their principal component parts, every soil must 
contain, in greater or less quantities, all the elements which 
enter into the composition of vegetables. Tbey may have cer- 
tain substances which are not necessary to vegetable life, and 
such as are necessary may be in excess ; yet to sustain a healthy, 
prolific vegetation, they must hold, and in a form fitted to its 
support, silex, alumina, carbonate of lime, sulphate of lime, 
potash, soda, magnesia, sulphur, phosphorus, oxyd of iron, 
manganese, chlorine, and probably iodine. These are called 
the inorganic or earthy parts of soils. In addition to these, 
fertile soils must contain carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydro- 



32 The Garden. 

gen, which are called organic parts of soils, from their great 
preponderance in vegetables and animals. 

For gardening purposes, a loamy soil, composed of nearly- 
equal proportions of clay, sand, and lime, and enriched by de- 
posits of decayed animal and vegetable matter, is perhaps the 
best; but a sandy loam similarly enriched is good. Very 
heavy and very light soils are objectionable ; but the latter less 
so, since it may be much more easily improved. 

Sulsoils. — The productiveness of a soil depends to a con- 
siderable extent upon the subsoil or bed on which it rests, 
which may be either clayey, sandy, gravelly, or calcareous. A 
clayey subsoil is unfavorable, as it renders the soil wet and cold. 
Loose and leachy subsoils, consisting mainly of gravel or sand, 
are also undesirable, on account of the facility with which 
moisture and the soluble portions of manures escape into them. 
Calcareous subsoils are considered best. 

II.-IMPEOVEMENT OF SOILS. 

As the original soil of one's garden can not always be a 
matter of choice, the garden being properly situated near the 
house, and the house depending for its location upon other cir- 
cumstances besides the soil, it becomes important to know how 
to improve it if it happen to be of an undesirable character. 

In order to set yourself about the work of improvement with 
a reasonable prospect of success, you should have a clear com- 
prehension of the end to be attained. What, then, are the 
qualities desirable in a garden soil ? 

A garden soil should be loamy, rich in all the elements essen- 
tial to the growth of plants, sufficiently light and friable to be 
easily cultivated, and to allow the roots to penetrate it in every 
direction, and at the same time sufficiently adhesive to retain 
moisture and the soluble portions of manures till they may bo 
required by the growing plant. 

Improvement of Clayey Soils. — If it be a clayey soil with 
which you have to do, you will probably, in the first place, 
find it too wet. The only effectual remedy for this defect ti 



Soils and Manures. 33 

thorough, underdraining. This not only draws off the surplus 
water, but opens the soil to the action of the atmosphere, 
which, in its passage through it, imparts its nutritive gases, and 
helps to warm and disintegrate it. Deep trenching will aid in 
the process of draining.* 

Having thoroughly drained your plot, you should next give 
your attention to improving the texture of the soil in other 
ways. The natural remedy for their too dense and adhesive 
character seems to he sand ; but to produce the desired effect 
large quantities are required — so large that the improvement 
in that way of large tracts of land is considered impracticable. 
In treating a small garden, however, the expense of the appli- 
cation may often be disregarded. 

Lime is a valuable auxiliary in the improvement of clayey 
soils, forming, with their ingredients, chemical combinations, 
whereby their extreme tenacity is broken up, and adding, at 
the same time, an element of fertility, in which they may be 
deficient. Gypsum, or plaster of Paris, has the same effect in 
a still more powerful degree. Ashes, coarse vegetable manures, 
straw, corn-stalks, leaves, chips, etc., are also very useful, as 
they add new materials, and also help to separate the particles 
of the original soil. 

In cold climates, clayey soils should be plowed or dug in the 
fall, the action of the frost and snow tending to break them up 
and destroy the adhesion of their particles. In the South, 
where there is little frost, and frequent and copious rains occur 
during the winter, this course is injurious rather than beneficial. 

The frequent working of clayey soils with plow, harrow, 
spade, or hoe, if done when they are not too wet, will greatly 
improve them. 

A persevering application of the various means we have 
indicated, will gradually bring the heaviest clay soil into the 
proper loamy consistency for horticultural purposes. 

A loamy soil resting upon a clayey subsoil should in general 



* For a chapter on Draining, see " The Farm.' 
2* 



84 The Gakden. 

be underdrained ; but if tbe stratum of clay be shallow, trench- 
ing or subsoil plowing will answer a good purpose. 

Improvement of Sandy Soils. — If your plot be sandy, its 
improvement, though equally necessary, is less difficult. Th« 
defects of sandy soils, as we have seen, are lack of adhesive- 
ness, want of affinity for water, and a leachy character, which 
permits the escape of manures. Clay is the principal remedy 
indicated, and a few loads, well incorporated with the original 
soil, will have an astonishing effect in improving a sandy gar- 
den. The required tenacity is thus very readily imparted. 

Lime is scarcely less valuable for application to sandy tban 
to clayey soils ; for while it separates the latter, it renders the 
former more adhesive. Gypsum, ashes, and clay marls are 
also exceedingly useful. To these applications should be added 
the frequent use of a heavy roller. 

"Where a sandy soil rests upon a clayey subsoil, as is not un- 
frequently the case, it may be greatly improved by trenching 
or deep plowing, by means of which a portion of the subsoil 
is thrown up and mixed with tbe surface soil. 

Sandy soils, modified as we have indicated, being warm, 
quick, and easy of cultivation, are the best in the world for 
tap-rooted plants and bulbs, and for the production of early 
crops of almost every kind. 

Gravelly soils resemble sandy soils in their characteristic 
defects, and require similar treatment ; but they are less desir- 
able, and require greater modifications to adapt them to gar- 
dening purposes. 

The other soils named require similar treatment in proportion 
as they approach the clayey or sandy character. 

Depth of Soil. — Tbe soil of most gardens (except on the 
alluvial bottoms of the West) requires improvement in depth 
quite as much as in any other particular. In no part of your 
garden should you be satisfied with less than two feet of good, 
friable soil, easily permeable by the roots of plants. A still 
greater depth is desirable, especially in the fruit department. 
Few who hare not had their attention speciallj irawn to th« 



Soils and Manures. 35 

subject are aware how deeply the roots of some species of 
plants penetrate, when permitted by a proper state of the soil. 
The roots of a strawberry plant are said to have been traced 
five feet in a deep, rich soil. 

Trenching and subsoil plowing are the processes by which 
the depth of soil is increased. The former is an expensive 
process, but, in gardening, a remunerative one; the latter is 
much cheaper, and, where it can be applied, serves a good 
purpose. „ 

Trenching, or subsoil plowing, is positively essential where 
tLe summers are long and dry, as in portions of the Southern 
States. Mr. "White, in his "Gardening for the South," says 
very truly that there is no point of greater importance than 
this. "Poor ground, deeply moved," he adds, "is better than 
rich land with shallow tillage ; and when the ground has been 
once prepared in this way, it will feel the benefit forever after. 
Increasing the depth of the soil in this mode is, to all intents 
and purposes, increasing the size of your garden; for one fourth 
of an acre thus prepared will yield, in a dry season, as much 
as an acre will with shallow tillage, and the growth of plants 
in good seasons will be fully doubled." 

Trenching should be performed in the fall, and any coarse 
manures you may wish to apply dug in at the time. Tor a 
description of the process of trenching, see Chapter III. 

Color of Soils. — The color of a soil has an important relation 
to its capacity for heat and moisture, and consequently to its 
adaptedness for horticultural purposes. Dark-colored earths, 
all other things being equal, are the best. 

Old Gardens. — Some old and small gardens are in a very 
bad state from excess of nutritive matters, or rather from the 
unavailable state in which these matters exist in the soil, which, 
instead of consisting of friable mold, presents only a black, 
shining substance, known to chemists as humic acid. This is 
the product of manures saturated with stagnant water, and is 
the result of excessive manuring, frequent watering, and lack 
of drainage, "No condition can be more unfavorable to the 



36 The Garden. 

growth of plants than this, and if they .grow at all in such soil 
they will be gross, pungent, and unwholesome. The remedy is 
trenching, underdraining, and the application of lime, gypsum, 
ashes, etc. 

Further means of improving soils will be treated of in the 
next section, under the head of Manures. 

III.— MANUEES. 

If yjDur soil be either wholly or partially deficient in any of 
the constituents of plants, these constituents must be supplied 
by adding to it substances which contain them. The substances 
thus added are called manures, which, in the broadest sense of 
the word, embrace everything which, being added to the soil, 
promotes directly or indirectly the growth of plants. 

Manures directly assist the growth of plants either by enter- 
ing into their composition, or by absorbing moisture and nutri- 
tive gases from the atmosphere, and holding them for their use. 
Indirectly, manures assist the growth of plants by destroying 
vermin or weeds, by decomposing the soil and rendering its 
elements available, by protecting vegetation from sudden 
changes of temperature, or by improving the texture of the 
soil. They are divided into two classes — organic and inorganic. 
The former embraces ordinary vegetable and animal substances, 
and the latter mineral substances. 

Organic Manures. — The principal organic manures are the 
dung of animals, human excrements, urine, flesh, blood, fish, 
swamp-muck, sea-weed, and decayed leaves, hay, straw, and 
wood. Guano, though an animal product, contains so large a 
proportion of salts, and is so deficient in the characteristics of 
recent animal matter that it is generally classed with the inor- 
ganic manures. 

Inorganic Manures. — The principal inorganic manures are 
ashes, lime, the marls, gypsum, bones, salt, charcoal, soot, and 
guano. 

Theory of Manures. — The kind of manure which will prove 
most useful in a given instance must be determined by refer- 



Soils and Manures. 37 

ence to several circumstances — the chemical composition and 
mechanical texture of the soil, the character of the climate or 
season, and the kind of crop to be produced. The manures 
most generally applicable are those composed of substances 
which directly enter into and are essential to the growth of 
plants, 

The fertility of a forest is not only maintained but increased 
oy the constant decay of its leaves, branches, and trunks, 
which returns to the earth not only the nutritive matter origin- 
ally drawn from it, but also much that has been supplied by 
the atmosphere. This manure is just what the trees need — it 
keeps good the supply of the elements essential to their growth. 
So the parts of any plant decayed and rendered soluble are the 
best manure for its species. But the products of our gardens 
are mainly taken from them, and used as food. Every particle 
not thus made use of should be returned, mixed with other 
vegetable and animal matter, in the form of compost. For the 
rest, stable manures (of which the dung of the horse is the best) 
should be relied on as the grand staples. 

All the ordinarily cultivated plants, as has already been 
stated, contain potash, soda, lime, magnesia, alumina, silica, 
iron, sulphur, phosphorus, chlorine, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, 
and hydrogen. The four substances last named may, as we 
have seen, be derived either immediately or remotely from the 
air ; but they are all essentials of a fertile soil, and, to perpetu- 
ate its fertility under cultivation, must be supplied in the form 
of manures. 

Stable Manure. — Common stable manure contains potash, 
soda, lime, magnesia, alumina, silica, oxyd of iron, sulphur, 
phosphorus, chlorine, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen. 
Lime exists both as a carbonate and as a phosphate, potash as 
a muriate and a sulphate, and soda as a carbonate. A compari- 
son of this list of chemical substances with those enumerated 
in the preceding paragraph as the essentials of a fertile soil, 
will at once show the value of stable manure. Every part of 
it has been formed from vegetabb substances, and it has only 



38 The Garden. 

to be rendored friable and soluble to enter again iuto tbeu 
composition. As plants can not, it will be remembered, absorb 
manures in a gross or solid form, the last point is an important 
one, and of universal application. 

Night Soil. — Human excrements, composted with charcoal' 
dust, leaves, turf, loam, etc., form a most powerful fertilizer. 
Quicklime should never be mixed with night-soil, for while it 
neutralizes the odor, it also expels its fertilizing qualities. 

The Bung of Fowls. — The dung of fowls contains the essen- 
tial qualities of guano, and is next to night-soil in value. It 
should be kept dry, or else mixed at once with a compost which 
will retain all the volatile and soluble matters which it contains. 

Other Organic Manures. — Dead animals, blood, butchers' 
offal, fish, hair, bristles, hay, straw, leaves, sea-weed muck, 
rich turf, the refuse from the kitchen, and the slops from the 
chamber are all of great value as materials for a compost. 

Athes. — If any dried vegetable product be burned, the incom- 
bustible substance remaining behind is called the ash or ashes. 
This, though generally less than one tenth of its substance, is 
all that the plant necessarily derived from the soil. The sub- 
stances expelled are carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen. 
They return to the air, from which they were either immedi- 
ately or remotely derived. The ashes of vegetables, then, fur- 
nish j«st the inorganic elements required for their growth. 
Their value as a manure is evident, and it is astonishing that 
any person with a garden or a farm can allow a spoonful of 
them to be wasted. Leached ashes contain all the elements of 
\he unleached, but are somewhat less valuable from having lost 
a porcion of their potash and soda. Coal ashes, though inferior 
to wood ashes, are still very valuable as manure. 

Lime. — We have already spoken of the value of lime in im- 
proung the texture of soils. It also condenses and retains the 
volatile gases brought in contact with it by the air and rains, 
and converts the insoluble matters of the soil into available food 
for plants, besides entering itself directly into the compo&ition 
of nearly all vegetation. 



Soils asd Manures. 39 

Hie Marls. — Marls are composed of carbonate of lime mixed 
with clay, sand, loam, and frequently with phosphate and sul- 
phate of lime and potash, and are valuable as manures in pro- 
portion to the lime and potash they contain. 

Guano. — This substance is composed of the dung, food, and 
carcasses of sea-birds which have been accumulating for ages on 
some of the islands of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Of its 
value as a manure there can be no doubt. There is much 
fraud in its sale, however, and if great caution be not exercised, 
an adulterated article may be palmed off upon you. It must 
never, in a fresh state, come in direct contact with the seeds or 
roots of plants, as it is certain to destroy their vitality. 

Other Inorganic Manures. — Common salt is valuable in small 
quantities for garden use. On account of its great affinity for 
water, it attracts the dews and atmospheric vapors, and is 
therefore a preventive of drouth. It is also useful in destroy- 
ing worms, slugs, and larva?. Old plaster, broken bricks, bones, 
charcoal, soot, and even broken glass, are useful as manures, and 
should be carefully saved and applied. 

Having said so much of the various manures, we must repeat, 
in order to impress it upon the reader's mind, that our principal 
reliance should be upon stable manure (with which we would 
include that from the pig-sty) and the composts formed of 
home-made materials, according to directions we are about to 
give. Tbe special manures most likely to be required by soil? 
in general are lime, phosphate of lime, and potash. 

Composts. — In or near the garden, and in some out-of-sight 
corner, there should be at all times a compost heap for receiving 
all kinds of rubbish that can have the least value as manure. 

Make a shallow excavation of sufficient size, and a little 
lower at one end than at the other, forming with the earth 
thrown out a small embankment all around it. Into this throw 
green weeds, the sweepings of the yard, the refuse of vegeta- 
bles, leaves, decayed vegetable matter of all kinds, woolen rags, 
old plaster, charcoal-dust, soot, soap-suds, brine, slops from the 
kitchen and chambers, etc. The heap should be dug over occa- 



40 The Garden. 

sionally, adding a little, ashes and lime. Animal manures 
Bhould be composted in a separate heap, to which ashes and 
lime should not be added, as they would do harm by setting 
free the ammonia. In the latter case, charcoal-dust, plaster of 
Paris, and vegetable mold, leaves, turf, or swamp-muck should 
be used. 

One who has never tried the experiment of carefully hus- 
banding the elements of fertility which accumulate about a 
house, yard, and garden will be astonished at the annual amount 
and value of the compost which may, with very little trouble, 
be thus manufactured. Try it.* 



* For a more complete exposition of the whole subject of Soils taid 
iuree, Bee u The Farm." 



Formation of a Garden. 



41 



III. 

FORMATION OF A GARDEN. 



Nothing conduces i 
Bine-— A. Nonne. 



the successful completion of any ] 



L-SITUATION. 



i of -work than a gi od begin- 




S it is desirable, if not absolutely necessary, 
that tbe garden should be placed near the 
house, the situation of which must be de- 
termined, in part, at least, by independent 
considerations, our range for the selection 
of a plot is generally quite limited. But it 
is well to know what kind of a situation is best, that 
we may exercise understanding^ any liberty of choice 
that may be allowed us. 

Tor early crops a southeastern exposure, with a slight 
inclination, is best, as it receives the full benefit of the 
morning sun. If sheltered on the north and northwest by 
higher grounds or by trees or high walls, so much the better. 
In warm climates, however, a northwestern exposure is better 
for many garden crops. 

In selecting a situation for a garden, reference should also be 
had to soil. If this be originally good, the expense of making 
it so, artificially, will be saved, and only ordinary manuring 
required. Diversity of soils and exposures are also desirable 
combinations of advantages. Proximity to water is important, 
but very low grounds are, if possible, to be avoided. 



II.-SIZE AND SHAPE. 

The size of a garden will naturally depend mainly upon the 
wants, tastes, and means of its owner. An acre is not too 
much, but one half or even one fourth of an acre, well ma- 



42 The Garden. 

nured and skillfully cultivated, will furnish vegetables and fruita 
sufficient for the use of a small family. If you can consist- 
ently appropriate an acre or more for the purpose of a garden, 
do not be content with less. You will find a ready market for 
its surplus products, and at high prices, too, unless you happen 
to be situated at a great distance from any city or large town. 

The form of a garden, like its situation and size, must depend 
upon circumstances. For convenience in laying out and culti- 
vation, a square or a parallelogram is a good shape. If the 
form be a parallelogram, it is better that it should extend from 
east to west than from north to south. 

III.— LAYING OUT. 

The fruit and kitchen garden are to be looked upon from an 
economical rather than an esthetic point of view, and their 
internal arrangement should be simple, and, so far as circum- 
stances will permit, regular and geometrical. In laying out a 
flower-garden or a lawn, however, no matter how small it may 
be, there is room for the exercise of taste and the creation of 
beauty ; and we will reserve our directions on that point for 
the chapters devoted specially to those topics, confining our- 
selves here to the fruit and kitchen departments. 

Whether within the same inclosure or not, the flower-garden 
will naturally be placed nearest the house. Passing through 
that, we enter the kitchen department, beyond which is the 
fruit-garden. It is better, however, in some cases to reverse 
the order of the last two, placing the fruit department next 
the flower-garden. In small gardens, too, these departments 
necessarily intermingle to some extent; but this should be 
avoided so far as is possible, as the trees are very detrimei tal 
to other crops — shading the ground, injuring tender plants by 
the drippings from their branches, and exhausting the soil by 
means of the heavy drafts made upon it by their roots. Dwarf 
pears may be admitted into the vegetable department with 
comparative impunity, provided the soil is sufficiently ma- 
nured to withstand the double demand thus made upon it. 



Formation of a Garden. 43 

A large garden should have a walk through the center, ex- 
tending the whole length, with a turning place at the extremity, 
and broad enough to admit a cart for bringing in the manure 
and conveying the heavier crops to the cellar or other place 
of storage. This walk may be crossed by another at right 
angles, and both should be bordered with currant or gooseberry 
bushes, or other shrubs. In small gardens these walks may be 
narrow and without borders, or may be omitted altogether. 
A border from four to twelve feet wide, and skirted by a walk 
three or four feet wide, should run entirely around the garden. 
The smaller compartments need not be separated by permanent 
walks, and their arrangement must be left to be decided by the 
circumstances of each case. 

The only general direction that seems necessary in reference 
to laying out the fruit department is, that care should be taken 
to give the less hardy trees the most sheltered and warmest 
position, and to so dispose the various kinds that the larger 
trees shall not shade and dwarf the smaller. The fruit-gardes 
should have its wall-borders for the cultivation of raspberries, 
blackberries, currants, gooseberries, etc. (unless these, as is 
generally the case in small gardens, are transferred to the bor- 
ders of the kitchen department), and its trellises and arbors 
for grapevines. 

IV.-FENCING. 

A garden should be surrounded by a close fence, at least seven 
feet high, and picketed, to prevent the entrance of thieves. 
The height and closeness of the fence will increase the warmth 
of the air, break the force of high winds, which might injure 
tender plants and trees, and prevent, in a measure, the seeds 
of weeds from being driven into it by the wind. A close board 
fence, however, is an unsightly object, and a high close hedge, 
so soon as it can be grown, may advantageously take its place. 
The Osage Orange and, at the South, the Cherokee and single* 
white Macartney roses are suitable for this purpose. 



44: The Garden. 



V.— PKEPAKATION OF THE SOIL. 

1. Draining. — If your soil require draining, this is the first 
thing to he attended to. If in digging a hole two feet deep, 
water be found to collect and stand in it, even during the wettest 
times, you may he sure that draining is required. "No one," 
J. J. Thomas says, " who has never given draining a full and 
fair trial can appreciate its importance. Very often the soil 
may he worked and planted from two to four weeks earlier in 
the spring — a most important advantage for early vegetables. 
Scarcely less is the benefit during the rest of the season in pre- 
venting hard-baked soil in times of drouth." Do not neglect 
this on accouct of the expense. No operation in gardening 
" pays" better. A quarter of an acre well underdrained will 
be more valuable than an acre of wet, cold, tenacious, undrained 
soil. Dig parallel ditches from twenty -five to thirty feet apart, 
and from three to four feet deep, forming a slightly inclined 
plane on the bottom, which may be from six inches to a foot 
wide. These ditches may be filled to a sufficient depth with 
rubble-stones or brush, and then covered with soil, if the arched 
tiles or tubes of burned clay, now mostly used, can not be pro- 
cured. The average expense of the best underdraining is esti- 
mated at only from twelve to eighteen dollars an acre. 

2. Trenching. — We have already (in Chapter II.) spoken of 
the necessity of depth of soil for horticultural purposes, and 
especially for the growth of trees, and of the means for deep- 
ening soils naturally too shallow, as nearly all are. Trenching 
is thus performed : 

" At one end of the plot to be trenched, dig with the spade 
a trench three feet wide and at least two feet deep, throwing 
the earth out on the side opposite to the plot. Now open an- 
other trench of the same width, and put the surface spadeful 
of this into the bottom of the former trench, and the next 
spadeful upon that, until it is opened to the depth of the first 
one. When the plot is entirely trenched in this way, the last 
trench will remain open, and must be filled with the earth 



Formation of a Garden. 45 

thrown out from the first one. If the subsoil he poor and 
gravelly, it is better to take off the first spadeful, and then 
loosen the bottom to the required depth without bringing it to 
the surface. If the soil require it, as it generally will, layers 
of manure may be added to those of earth alternately." 

3. Subsoil Plowing. — The expense of trenching being great, 
where the plot to be prepared is la »e, subsoil plowing may be 
substituted, similar results in a somewhat inferior degree being 
obtained. In subsoiling, a common turning plow goes first, and 
the subsoil plow follows, loosening the earth to the required 
depth below the bottom of the ordinary furrow, but not turn- 
ing it up. 

The foregoing preparatory operations being thoroughly per- 
formed, we may consider the garden ready for the ordinary 
processes of cultivation, Of these we shall speak in another 
chapter. 



46 The Gakden. 



IV. 



IMPLEMENTS AND FIXTURES. 

Next to knowledge and skill are good tools.— The Workman. 

I.-IMPLEHENTS. 

OU should supply yourself with good ini« 
plements of the various kinds essential to 
the proper performance of every necessary 
operation. To purchase those of an infe- 
rior quality because they can be procured 
at a somewhat lower price is false economy. Ex- 
perience will prove them the more costly in the 
end. They soon get out of repair and become 
besides, in their best estate, much less 
work can be accomplished with them, and that 
imperfectly. 

The Spade. — It is convenient to have several spades of dif- 
ferent sizes, but a No. 2 of Ames' cast steel will serve for most 
purposes. For the flower-garden, a lady needs a smaller and 
lighter one, manufactured especially for feminine use. 

The Shovel. — A shovel is necessary for loading and spreading 
composts and for various other operations. The round-pointed 
ones are perhaps more generally useful in a garden than the 
square-bladed. 

Hoes. — You need several hoes, of different sizes and shapes. 
The common square draw-hoes are most used. They are of 
various sizes. One of three or four and another of six or seven 
inches will be found most useful. To these it is desirable to 
add a pronged hoe, a thrust-hoe, and a triangular draw-hoe. 
The latter is useful for digging furrows for seeds. 
Rakes.-*- The garden rake should bo of the best wrought 




Implements and Fix tubes. 47 

iron, with teeth about two and a half inches long and one and 
a half inches apart. The handle should he from six to eight 
feet long. Drill-rakes, which are very useful, if not indis- 
pensable, are made of wood, with obtusely-pointed teeth, three 
or four in number, placed at a greater or less distance apart, 
for sowing different seeds. In using the drill-rake a line is 
stretched to guide it in making the first drill, and afterward the 
first tooth is kept in the drill last made, as a guide, and thus 
all the rows in a long bed can be made perfectly parallel. 
Several different sizes are required. 

Tlie Trowel. — The trowel is very useful for removing plants, 
with balls of earth for transplanting. It should be from five 
to nine inches long, exclusive of the handle. 

The Dibber. — This is a short piece of round wood, obtusely 
pointed. A serviceable one may be made from an old spade 
or shovel handle. 

The Reel and Line. — These are essential — at least the line, 
which may be used without the reel — where anything like 
straight rows and regularity are desirsd. The reel may bo 
either of wood or of iron. 

The Watering Pot. — One boiling four gallons is the best 
size. It should be made of double tin, and kept well painted. 

Garden Shears. — These are of various sizes, and are used 
for clipping hedges and many other purposes. The seven and 
nine-inch size are very convenient. There is a smaller article 
made expresuly for the ladies. 

The Saw. — The pruning saw is from fourteen to eighteen 
inches long, and is made with fine teeth and a hooked handle, 
for hanging on the limb of a tree. 

Knives. — A pruning knife of modern size and a budding 
knife will be essential in the fruit-garden. 

Hand- Glasses. — Hand-glasses, either made of panes set in 
boxes, or bell-glasses, are necessary for protecting early plants 
of the tomato, egg-plant, etc. 

Ladders. — A lighfc, common ladder and a standing ladder 
will be found indispensable in the fruft department. 



48 The Garden. 

The Wheelbarrow. — The wheelbarrow is exceedingly useful 
in the smallest garden, and in a large one absolutely indispens- 
able. It should be light, tut strongly made. 

Additional. — Several other implements are desirable, and in 
particular cases indispensable, among which are, a crowbar, a 
pick, a manure fork, a forked spade, pruning shears, a garden 
roller, a lawn scythe, a hedge hook, vine scissors, a hand-culti- 
vator, an orchardisVs hook, a hand-syringe, etc. 

The plow, subsoil plow, and cultivator belong rather to the 
farm, and if you cultivate only a small garden, you will find it 
more economical to pay for the occasional use of these imple- 
ments than to invest money in their purchase. 

Preservation of Implements. — Having procured implements 
of a good quality, do not allow them to be destroyed for the 
lack of a little care on your part. An implement that in the 
hands of a careful and economical gardener will last and con- 
tinue serviceable for ten years may be ruined in a single season 
by a negligent and wasteful one. 

In or near the garden should be a tool-house or a room set 
apart for the purpose of storing the implements when not in 
use. Carefully clean your spades, hoes, and other implements 
of steel or iron, before returning them to their place. Imple- 
ments of wood should be painted. 

H.-FIXTURES, ETC. 

The gardens and grounds of every rural residence of taste 
should have seats, arbors, and other structures of rustic work 
— that is, work made of the trunks and branches of trees, with 
their bark on and in their natural forms. They may be cheaply 
erected, and will add greatly to the out-of-door attractions. 
The tool-house we have recommended may be of this charac- 
ter, and be made ornamental as well as useful.* 

Pits. — "What is called a sunk pit is made by excavating the 
earth and forming walls of brick, stone, or boards. These are 

* See " The House," for designs and descriptions. 



Implements and Fixtures. 4-9 

sometimes covered with glass frames, and at other times with 
mats or hoards. They are mostly used for the preservation of 
vegetables, such as celery, endive, lettuce, cauliflower, etc. 
The walled pit is partly sunk in the ground and partly above 
it. The walls are formed of brick or stone, finished with a 
wooden or stone cop- 
ing, and covered with 




Of this pit Buist saye : 

"There is no ap- 
pendage to the garden 
of greater utility than 

this pit. It is two feet the -walled ph. 

under ground and one foot above it in front, and two feet above 
it at the back, and six or seven feet wide in the clear. It is 
an excellent winter apartment for plants when covered with 
sash and mats. Filled with very rich earth, it produces very 
fine cauliflowers, which will be in use from March to May. If 
filled with warm manure early in February, it will produce 
cucumbers that will be in use from April to July, or radishes 
and small salading in any quantity." 

Hot Beds. — The common hot-bed frame is a bottomless box 




THE HOT-BED. 



of wood, with a sloping top and covered with a sash. It may 
be of any length or breadth, but from four to six feet wide, 
and from six to ten feet long is a good size. The sashes are 
made without cross-bars, the glass overlapping like the shingles 
of a house. The glass should be proportionally much smaller 
than it is represented in our engraving — not larger than seven- 
by-nine at most. The lap of the panes should not be over 
8 



50 Tee Gaeden. 

half an inch. It should be bedded in soft putty, and the sash 
well painted. The sashes should be made to slide in grooves, 
bo as to be conveniently moved whenever the bed may require 
to be opened, either wholly or partially, to the air.* The 
whole should be kept under cover when not in use. Directions 
for preparing hot-beds will be found in the next chapter, under 
the head of " Forcing." 

Trellises. — Every garden should have one or more trellises 
for vines. They are of different kinds to adapt them to differ- 
ent situations and purposes. The posts should be made of some 
durable wood. Red cedar is the best. Under the head of the 
grape we shall describe the construction of the trellises required 
for its support. Designs for ornamental trellis-work may be 
found in " The House." 

* Instead of the sashes for covering the frames, the following mode, caUed 
the German plan, may perhaps be adopted with advantage ; but we have not 
tried it : 

"Take white cotton cloth, of a close texture, stretch, and nail it on frames 
of any size you wish ; take two ounces of lime-water, four ounces of linseed 
oil, one of white of eggs, two ounces of yellow of eggs ; mix the lime and oil 
with very gentle heat, beat the eggs separately, and mix them with the former ; 
spread this mixture with a paint-brush over the cotton, allowing each coat to 
dry before applying another, until they become water-proof. The following 
are the advantages this shade possesses over glass ones : 1. The cost being 
hardly one fourth. 2. Eepairs are easily and cheaply made. 3. The light. 
They do not require watering ; no matter how intense the heat of the sun, the 
plants are never struck down or burned, or checked in growth, neither do they 
grow up long, sick, and weakly, as they do under glass, and still there is 
abundance of light. 4. The heat arising entirely from below is more equable 
and temperate, which is a great object. The vapor rising from the monuro 
and earth is condensed by the cool air passing over the surface of the shade, 
and stands in drops upon the inside, and therefore, the plants do not require 
as frequent watering. If the frames or stretchers are made large, they should 
be intersected by cross-bars about a foot square to support the cloth. Theso 
articles are just the thing for bringing forward melons, tomatoes, flower-eeoda, 
etc. in season for transplanting." 



Horticultural Processes. 51 



HORTICULTURAL PROCESSES. 

Krery operation in gardening depf nds for its complete and universal success upon 
dge of the structure of plants, the nature of soils and manures, and the laws of 
[fe and growth. — M. Le Jardinier. 

I.— STIEEQTG THE SOIL. 

HE attentive reader of the foregoing chap 
ters will not require to he told that a thor 
ough stirring and pulverizing of the soil, as 
one of the first operations in gardening, is 
absolutely essential to any high degree of 
success in the steps which follow. His 
knowledge of the structure of roots and the nature 
of their food has prepared him to appreciate the im- 
portance of the mechanical division of soils. He 
knows that the ground must he readily permeable by 
the tender rootlets, pervious to moisture and air, and 
so broken up that the water, acids, and alkalies penetrating it 
may efficiently act upon its soluble parts. 

Spading is the most effectual method of stirring the soil, 
but, where the plow can be advantageously used, will hardly 
" pay" in this country. In small gardens, and in portions of 
all gardens, spading is the only practicable operation. "What- 
ever the means used, let the work be thoroughly done. Down- 
ing says: "If I had to preach a sermon on horticulture, I 
should take this for my text — 'Stir the soil.' " 

II.-APPLYING MANURES. 

As the roots of plants usually penetrate every part of the 
soil of a garden, manures, as a general rule, should oe as thor- 




52 The Garden. 

oughly mixed as possible with every part. Where the ground 
is to be plowed, they are generally spread upon the surface, 
and turned in by that process. In special cases, as will be 
seen further on, manuring in the hill or drill is advisable. 
Manures are also sometimes applied as top-dressings — that is, 
are spread upon the surface and not dug in. Vegetable and 
animal manures for common garden use should be thoroughly 
rotted and finely pulverized. 

III.-FORCING. 

Every garden should have one or more hot-beds for for- 
warding early tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbages, radishes, let- 
tuce, etc. We have described the hot-bed frame in Chapter 
IV. The bed itself should be composed of stable manure and 
leaves, and must be not less than three feet deep. The manure 
should be first thrown in a heap to ferment, and worked over 
several times, adding water if it should become dry or musty. 
Sometimes the bed is made on the surface of tbe ground, and at 
others an excavation ten or twelve inches deep is made, in order 
to give the bed a less inconvenient elevation above the general 
surface. The manure and leaves should be spread evenly in 
layers, and pressed down. The bed should be at least six 
inches larger every way than the frame which is to cover it, 
and slope slightly toward the south. When neatly finished, 
put on the frame, close the sash, and keep all tight till the heat 
rises and steam appears on the glass. So soon as the heat 
rises, give the bed air at noon, or the warmest part of the day, 
but keep it carefully closed the rest of the time. In three or 
four days you may cover the surface with from four to six 
inches of fine, rich garden mold, and so soon as this is warmed 
through, the bed is ready for use. The seed may be sowed in 
drills, but, for facility of transplanting and to secure an un- 
checked growth, it is better to sow them in small pots, which 
are to be plunged in the mold. Sprinkle gently with water of 
the same temperature as the bed. When the plants appear 
they should have the air every day in which the weather will 



HORTICULTTTBAL PROCESSES. 53 

permit. Open the bed also to warm, gentle rains, but keep it 
carefully closed against cold or heavy storms. At night keep 
it well covered with matting or straw. Transplant as soon as 
danger from frost will permit. 

In the South this forcing process may be commenced early 
in the winter, but at the North not till February or March, 
according to the latitude and the season. 

IV.— SOWING SEEDS. 
The first thing to be attended to in seed-sowing is the prep- 
aration of the bed by thoroughly pulverizing the soil ; and the 
smaller the seeds the more finely should the earth be pulver- 
ized. The soil should be freshly stirred and moist, but not too 
wet. The depth at which seeds should be buried varies with 
species and with the state of the soil. The objects are to ex- 
clude the light and secure sufficient moisture for the purposes 
of germination. The latter object requires large seeds, other 
things being equal, to be covered more deeply than small ones. 
If seeds are covered too deeply, unnecessary impediments are 
thrown in the way of the ascending shoots ; and germination 
may be prevented altogether by the exclusion of the air. 
Most garden seeds are sown in drills. The earth should be 
pressed upon them with more or less force, according to the 
nature of the soil, in order to secure the necessary degree of 
compactness to retain the moisture and to support the plant 
after germination. Specific directions, where they are required, 
will be given under the name of each plant. 

Y.— TEANSPLANTING. 

In transplanting, the principal points to be attended to are — 
care in taking up, to avoid injuring the tender extremities of 
the roots, through which, as we have seen, the plant receives 
its nourishment ; planting firmly, to give it a secure hold of 
the soil ; shading, when necessary, to prevent the evaporation 
from its leaves being greater than the plant, in its enfeebled 
state, can support ; and watering, that it may not lack moist 



54 The Garden. 

ure. Moist weather should also, if possible, be chosen for 
performing the operation. 

As a general rule, in transplanting, the collar of the root 
should not be buried. Cabbages, balsams, and some other 
annuals, which throw out roots above the collar, furnish ex- 
ceptions ; also pears on quince stocks, which must be set so as 
to bring the place where the scion is inserted below the surface 
of the soil. 

The operation of transplanting herbaceous plants should 
always be performed with & trowel, removing a little ball of 
earth with the plant. A damp, cloudy day, an evening, or 
just before a shower, is a favorable time. 

Tap-rooted plants are transplanted with great difficulty, and, 
if the operation be attempted, should be taken up with a con- 
siderable ball of earth. 

In transplanting trees much depends upon the knowledge 
and skill exercised. Thousands of fine trees are lost every 
year through the ignorance and carelessness of transplanters. 

In taking up a tree or shrub for transplanting, be careful to 
injure the roots as little as possible. But in all cases the roots 
will be maimed more or less. The feeding power of the tree 
is to the same extent decreased, and it will not be able to sus- 
tain the draft made upon it by the stem and leaves. These 
must be diminished correspondingly by heading back or short- 
ening. In preparing a place for the reception of the tree, avoid, 
if possible, the sites of old trees. Dig a hole considerably 
larger than the clump of the tree's roots, and from fifteen to 
twenty inches deep, placing the sods, if in sward land, in one 
heap, the soil in another, and the subsoil in a third. The hole 
should be filled with a mixture of the soil, subsoil, and rich, 
black loam, or well-rotted compost manure, to the height 
where it is proper to place the tree. With the hand or spade, 
shape the soil for the roots into the form of a little cone, oii 
which to set the hollow in the center of the clump of roots. 
If this is done some weeks, or even months, before setting th» 
tree, it will be all the better. 



Horticultural Processes. 55 

If the ground be dry, or if the roots have been much exposed 
to the air since the tree was taken up, soak the roots and the 
lower part of the trunk in water twelve or twenty -fcur hours. 
Cut off all bruised and broken ends of roots smoothly with a 
knife, and shorten-in the longest, so that the clump of roots 
may have a somewhat circular form. In cutting a root, always 
enter the knife upon the under side, and bring it out, with a 
slope, to the upper side, so that the fibers which may shoot out 
from the edges of the cut shall strike downward into the 
ground, instead of upward, as they would were the cut made 
as it commonly is. 

"With good, rich soil fill up under, among, around, and above 
the roots, straightening them out with the fingers, and placing 
them in a fan-like and natural position, being very cautious not 
to leave any, even small, hollow places among them, If the 
root is one-sided, make the most you can of the weaker part. 
At this stage of the work, if you have patience, it is an ex- 
cellent plan to make a circular dam around the edge of 
the hole, and keep it full of water for a half hour or more. 
In setting evergreens, this, by some, is deemed almost indis- 
pensable, unless the ground is quite moist. Next, put in a little 
more earth, pressing it around the tree with the foot. After 
this, throw on an inch or so of loose earth, and the work is 
done. 

Another mode of fining up around the trees, called mudding- 
in, has proved very successful. Make the circular dam around 
the tree first, or as soon as it is needed, then let one person 
slowly sift the soil into the hole upon the roots, while another 
constantly pours in water, thus keeping the earth in a thin, 
muddy state. 

Very large trees are most successfully transplanted by re- 
moving them with large balls of frozen earth in mid- winter, 
and placing them at once in a hole previously prepared to 
receive them.* 

* See Appendix, C. 



56 The Garden. 

The fundamental principle to be generally observed in trans- 
planting is to bead back the top of the tree in proportion to 
the loss of root that it bas sustained by being removed. 

Some fruit-trees may be moved mucb more easily than 
others. Downing arranges them with reference to this point 
in the following order : Plums, quinces, apples, pears, peaches, 
nectarines, apricots, and, last and most difficult, cherries. It 
is an invariable rule, that the larger the tree the less the chances 
of success. In the northern parts of the United States small 
trees should always be set in the spring. 

Medium-sized trees — say five to ten feet high — may be set 
equally well either in the autumn or spring. Trees of large 
size should be moved late in autumn, in the winter, or quite 
early in the spring. 

The evergreen tribe are, however, best planted out just as 
their buds begin to swell in the spring; but they are some- 
times successfully set in autumn, and also during the last of 
May and first of June. If their roots are exposed to dry, 
out of the ground, they are almost certain to die. 

VI.— WATERING. 

Watering, like every other operation in gardening, bas its 
rules, founded on the general principles laid down in our first 
and second chapters. The most important points to be remem- 
bered are: 1. That on the nature of the plant, the stage of 
its growth, and the dryness or dampness of the atmosphere 
depends tbe quantity of water required; 2. That the soil 
should never be saturated with water, too much moisture 
proving injurious as well as too little; 3. That the watei 
should not be applied at the base of the stem, as it is through 
the extremities of the rootlets mainly that it must be taken up, 
and these, except in tap-rooted plants, are at a greater or less, 
distance from the original starting-point ; 4. That in summer, 
the proper time for watering plants is evening, but that in 
colder weather it is better to water them at mid-day; 5. That 
rain water is better than well or spring water, and that when 



HoETICULTTJRAL PROCESSES. 57 

the latter is used it should he exposed to the air for some time 
before applying it; 6. That the water should never be colder 
than the plants to be watered. 

VII.— HOEING. 

The necessity for stirring the soil before planting has> been 
already shown. As soon as the plants are well above ground 
it should be stirred again. In field culture, and to some extent 
in large gardens, this is done with the plow and cultivator. 
Where these can not go, the hoe must be faithfully applied. 
The soil can not be stirred too often. 

One object in hoeing is the destruction of weeds. This 
should be thorough — the extermination should be complete. 
Spare not even the smallest. But keeping the weeds down is 
not the only good result attained by hoeing. The soil is 
thereby kept friable and porous, opened to the atmosphere and 
the fertilizing gases, and new, fresh, and cool surface is pre- 
sented for the absorption of moisture. Hoe deeply. A mere 
scratching of the surface is not enough ; and do not fail to Mil 
every weed. 

One year's seeding makes seven years' weeding. 
VIII.— PBOTECTION FEOM FKOST. 

Straw and leaves laid several inches deep about their roots 
are very useful in protecting half-hardy plants during the win- 
ter. Garden-pots, empty boxes, barrels, hand-glasses, and cold 
frames should be brought into requisition in particular cases, 
for the protection of early plants from spring frosts, and later 
ones from those of the autumn. Common tumblers may be 
used for very small plants, but they must be raised whenever 
moisture accumulates. 

Fruit-trees in blossom, or covered with young fruit just 
formed, may be protected by keeping up smoldering, smoking 
fires during the night in various parts of the garden, at the 
windward side. But little fire is required, the clouds of smoke 
effectually warding off the fro6t. The amount of fruit which 
3* 



58 The Garden. 

might often be thus saved would repay a hundred-fold the 
labor and care bestowed in this way. 

IX.— MULCHING. 

Mulching is placing mulch or moist litter of various kinds 
upon the surface of the soil over the roots of trees, shrubs, and 
herbaceous plants. Its uses are the retention of moisture, the 
prevention of injury by frost, and the promotion of an equable 
temperature. Strawberries thinly mulched, the crown being 
uncovered, are rendered more productive and continue longer 
in bearing, especially in hot, dry climates. Newly* planted 
fruit-trees are often greatly benefited by mulching. 

X.-DESTROYING INSECTS. 

The foes against which the gardener is forced to wage a per- 
petual war of extermination, though individually insignificant, 
are in the aggregate most formidable. "We will try to give a 
few useful hints of a general character to aid the reader in this 
warfare. 

Sowing a garden with salt, at the rate of sis or eight bushels 
to the acre, will cause many insects to disappear. It should 
be done in the autumn. Digging the soil in the winter, and 
thus exposing it to the frost, will destroy many grubs, etc. 
"Wide-mouthed bottles, partly filled with molasses and water, 
and hung up in a garden, make excellent traps for the moths, 
which are the parents of many destructive vermin. Mr. 
Downing mentions an acquaintance who thus caught and de- 
stroyed in a single season three bushels of insects, and preserved 
his garden almost free from them. A bright fire of resinous 
pine, tar, shavings, or any other combustible, kindled in the 
garden at night, on a platform erected for the purpose, will 
attract and destroy millions. Birds are among the best friends 
of the gardener, and should by no means be destroyed, 
although some of them may eat a few raspberries or cherries. 
Toads live almost entirely upon insects, and do no harm in a 
garden. Induce as many of them as possible to make it their 



HoRTICTTLTTJEAL PROCESSES. 59 

liome. Hens and chickens should have access whenever it 
can safely he permitted. 

To drive insects away from plants various preparations are 
useful. A writer in the Southern Cultivator recommends the 
following: 

"Put into a barrel of water a quarter of a pound of cam- 
phor, in pieces of the size of a hickory nut, and let it stand a 
day before using. Water your plants with this. The barrel 
may be refilled many times before the camphor will have ah 
been dissolved. A cupful of strong lye put into the watei 
will add to the strength of the mixture by causing the water 
to take up more camphor. Camphor is very offensive to most 
insects." Tobacco-water is another efficient remedy. Lime, 
charcoal-dust, ashes, soot, snuff, and sulphur sprinkled upon 
plants prove a defense against most destroyers. To expel the 
striped bug from cucumbers, squashes, etc., water the plants 
daily with a strong decoction of quassia, made by pouring four 
gallons of boiling water on four pounds of quassia, in a barrel, 
and, after twelve hours, filling the barrel with water. The 
intolerable squash or pumpkin bug may be thoroughly driven 
off by a decoction of double strength, containing a pound of 
glue to ten gallons, to make it adhere. 

The most effectual and the cheapest remedy for the striped 
bug, however, consists in defending each hill of melons, cu- 
cumbers, squashes, etc., by a box about fifteen inches square, 
the sides being eight to ten inches high, covered with millinet 
or some similar thin material. 

The following recipe for making a " barrier to insects" is 
given in the Gardener's Chronicle. It may be easily tried: 

" Take of common resin \\ lbs. ; sweet oil, 1 lb. ; place them 
in a pipkin over the fire until the resin is melted ; stir the mate- 
rials together, that they may be well blended ; when cold the 
substance formed, which the discoverer calls 'rezoil,' will be 
of the consistency of molasses. To use the rezoil it should be 
spread with a brush upon shreds or any fitting material, and 
wrapped round the stem of the plant ; if any support is used, 



6*0 The Garden. 

that should be brushed over also. No insect can possibly, or 
will attempt to cross this barrier ; the rezoil never dries, but 
always remains sticky and clammy — its action as a trap is 
therefore obvious." 

But, however numerous and effective the other remedies, 
" eternal vigilance" can not be dispensed with in dealing with 
the pests of the garden. 

XI.-SAVING SEEDS. 

Choose the best plants for seed — the most true to their hind 
and the most perfectly developed ; allow the seeds to become 
perfectly ripe before gathering them; gather when dry, and 
especially take care that they are perfectly dry when put up ; 
store them in paper bags carefully labeled, and keep them in a 
dry, cool place. Great care is necessary in raising seeds to 
preserve the sorts unmixed, as varieties of the same species 
or similar species are almost sure to mix if planted near each 
other. If you raise more than one kind of corn, or pumpkin, 
or cucumber, or melon in the same garden, you can not be 
sure of pure seed. The squashes and pumpkins may mix, or 
the melons with either, the pollen of one being conveyed by 
the wind, or sometimes by bees or other insects, to the pistil 
of the other. 

XII.— ROTATION OF CROPS. 

Why rotation of crops is beneficial has been already shown, 
and if the reader has forgotten, let him turn back to the first 
chapter. The following is a good rotation for a given portion 
of a garden : 

First year, cabbages. 

Second " onions. 

Third " carrots, beets, or parsnep9. 

Fourth " potatoes or turnips. 

Fifth " celery, spinach, or lettuce. 

Celery is t.Tcellent to precede asparagus, onions, cauliflower?, 



HORTICULTURAL PROCESSES. Qi 

or turnips ; old asparagus beds are good for carrots, potatoes, 
etc. ; strawberry and raspberry beds do well for tbe cabbage 
tribe, and tbe cabbage tribe may be followed by tbe tap-rooted 
plants — carrots, beets, etc. 

A large portion of every garden, even at the N orth, should 
be made to produce two crops each season. All the space occu- 
pied by early peas, beans, and potatoes can be made available 
for turnips and cabbages. Turnips (English or Dutch) may also 
be sown broadcast among the corn and later potatoes after the 
last hoeing. 

XIIL— PROPAGATION. 

Tbere are, properly speaking, but two modes of propagating 
plants — by seeds and by division. By the first the species is 
perpetuated, and new varieties raised. The second mode mul- 
tiplies specimens of the individual itself, with all its peculiari- 
ties, which may be and generally are lost in the seed. 

There are several distinct modes of propagating plants by 
division, all, however, depending for their success upon the 
presence of leaf-ouds, each of which, as we have seen, being 
capable, under favorable circumstances, of forming a distinct 
and independent individual. 

1. Suckers. — Some plants, such as the rose, the raspberry, 
the lilac, etc., throw up suckers or sprouts from their roots. 
These spring from what have been described as adventitious 
buds. We have only to divide these from their parent and 
transplant them in a suitable soil to secure their independent 
growth. Offsets and runners are of a similar nature to the 
suckers of the woody plants. The former are young bulbs 
which form by the side of the old one, and merely require 
breaking off and planting. The latter are shoots springing from 
tbe collar or crown of a plant, and throwing out roots at their 
joints. These have only to be separated from the parent plant 
to become independent individuals. The strawberry is the 
most noted example of this mode of propagation. 

2. Layers. — The tendency manifested by many plants to 
throw out roots from their joints early suggested to gardeners 



62 The Garden. 

the idea of making layers. A twig growing out of a tree, at a 
point not far from the ground, is bent down, and the middle 
portion of it buried just under the surface of the soil, and fast- 
ened there by means of a hooked peg, or by a stone or turf 
placed above it. Success is rendered more certain by checking 
tbe downward flow of the sap. This may be accomplished by 
cutting a slice off the under side of the part of the twig that is 
placed under ground, or, more perfectly, by entering the knife 
on the under side at this point, and splitting the twig upward 
about one or two inches, fastening the split open with a little 
wedge or pebble. The sap accumulating at this point induces 
the throwing out of roots, and the conversion of the shoot into 
a new plant. Trees or shrubs purposely headed down for 
raising layers are called stools. A single quince-bush, thus 
made into a stool, and its twigs layered, is capable of producing 
many finely-rooted plants in a single season. Of some kinds 
of layers nearly every bud will form roots of its own. 

3. Cuttings. — Cuttings are shoots removed from the parent 
tree or plant without roots. The branches nearest the ground 
are considered best for outtings, as the tendency to throw out 
roots is greater in them than in those more elevated. They 
should be cut off just below a joint. Some species, however, 
as the willow, the currant, etc., will throw out roots from any 
part of the stem, and generally succeed with even the most 
careless planting. The best time to take off cuttings is in No- 
vember, but in a cold climate they are more likely to succeed 
if kept in damp mold in a cellar, and not planted till spring. 
In planting, bury them to the second joint, leaving one or two 
joints above the surface of the soil. Press the earth com- 
pactly about the lower end. Outtings of delicate plants are 
generally struck (rooted) in pots, and sometimes it is necessary 
to cover them with a bell-glass, to prevent too rapid evaporation. 

4. Slips. — Slips are cuttings made from the root or collar of 
& plant, or branches stripped off, with a small portion of the 
root or stem attached. They are treated like other cuttings. 
Many kinds of fruit-trees may be readily propagated by slips. 



HoRTICTJLTTJR AL PROCESSES. 



63 



5 . Budding. — Budding consists in introducing the bud of one 
tree or shrub, with a portion of the bark and wood adhering 
to it, below the bark of anotber tree or shrub. The operation 
is thus performed : With a sharp budding-knife, upon a smooth 
place on the side of the stock, cut a longitudinal slit an inch or 
more long. Across the top of this cut a transverse slit from a 
quarter to half an inch long, so that both slits, taken together, 
shall resemble the letter T. Next, cut from your stick of buda 
a thin slice of bark, with a little wood in the central portion 
of it, entering the knife about half or three fourths of an inch 
below, and bringing it out about as far above a bud. This 
slice of bark and wood, taken together, is called a hud, the part 
of the bud which grows into a twig being technically called 
its eye. 

"With the ivory haft of your budding-knife, or, if you have 
not such a knife, with any little wedge of wood or ivory, raise 
up the corners of the slit in the stock. Taking hold of the 
bud by its foot-stalk, enter it, and gently push it down to the 
bottom of the incision. The eye of the bud will 
now be from one fourth to three fourths of an inch 
from the transverse part of the slit. The part of the 
bud, if any, projecting above this transverse slit, 
should be cut off, by passing the knife through it, into 
the transverse slit again, so that the upper end of the 
bud and this transverse part of the slit shall make a 
good joint together. Bind the bud firmly with shreds 
of bass-matting, so as to cover every part of it except 
the eye. "Woolen yarn or corn husks will answer 
when no matting is at hand. The stock (trunk or 
branch) should be from an eighth of an inch to not 
more than an inch in diameter. 

To prepare a stick of ouds for budding, take a scion 
of the present season's growth, and cut off the por- 
tions of each end of it containing buds that are im- 
perfectly developed. Next, cut off the leaves at a BTID8 - 
point about in the middle of their stems or fooUtalJcs. The 



64 



The Garden. 



buds which are to be used lie in the angle on the upper side 
of these stems. 

Budding is generally performed in the summer or early part 
of autumn. It is essential to success — 1st. That the bark of 
the stock should part freely from tJie wood, and 2d. That th« 
bud which is to be inserted should be well ripened, otherwise it 
will not have vital energy sufficient to establish itself in ita 
new location. Whenever these conditions can be secured, 
budding may be successfully performed. The buds put in 
early, however, especially in the South, make a considerable 
growth the same season. Buds should be inserted on the 
north side of the stock, if practicable. The operation is one 
of some nicety, and to be successful must be performed rapidly, 
and with fresh, healthy buds, smooth cuts, and cleanly rising 
bark. A few days after budding, the stock should be cut off 
within ten or twelve inches of the bud, and when this has 
grown three or four inches, the stock may be cut off again 
near the budded shoot. All sprouts, or "robbers," as they are 
called, that appear on the stock must be carefully removed. 
Care should also be taken not to allow branches 
from the main shoot of the bud to grow, and to 
secure an upright position of it, a ligature of the 
matting may be passed around the sprout and the 
upper end of the old stock. 

In spring budding, some gardeners recommend 
to make the incisions in the form of an inverted 
J_, but we see no good reason for this inversion, 
and believe that the other mode is equally sue 
cessful. 

Annular budding is applied with success to trees 
of hard wood and thick bark, or those which, like 
the walnut, have buds so large as to render the 
common mode of budding difficult and uncertain. 
A ring of bark is taken from the stock, and one of 
equal size, containing a bud, from the scion. If 
the stock be larger than the scion, an entire ring 



Horticultural Processes. 65 

will not be taken off, but only what may be filled by tbe ring 
of bark from tbe scion. If tbe ring of bark from tbe scion be 
too large for tbe stock, it will be reduced so as to just inclose 
tbe stock. "Wben tbus fitted, tie witb matting, and cover tbe 
wound witb clay or grafting- wax, and tbe work is done. 

6. Grafting. — In grafting, a sboot witb two or more buds on 
it, instead of a single bud, is transferred from one tree or sbrub 
to anotber. Tbe operation, in all its forms, consists essentially 
in bringing in contact portions of growing sboots, so tbat tbe 
liber or inner bark of tbe two may unite and grow togetber. 
Tbe same general principles apply to it as to budding. 

Tbe sboot to be transferred is called a scion. Tbe best time 
to cut scions is from tbe middle of January to tbe last of Feb- 
ruary, altbougb tbey may be taken from tbe trees at any time 
from late autumn until spring. In order to keep tbem until 
tbey may be used, notbing more is necessary tban to tbrust 
tbeir lower ends into tbe ground, in a sbady place — say close 
on tbe nortb side of tbe trunk of tbe tree from wbicb tbey 
were cut ; or a better way is to set tbem balf tbeir length deep 
in a box of fine soil in a cellar. 

In cutting scions, take from tbe extremity of tbe limb of a 
tree tbat part of it wbicb grew tbe preceding season, 
and keep tbe sboot or twig entire till wanted for use. 
, Scions are united to tbeir stocks in several ways. 
"Whatever may be the mode of operating, however, 
the principle is always the same — namely, the sap- 
vessels of the graft and the stock must be so adapted 
to each other that the sap can flow uninterruptedly 
from the one to the other. 

Cleft grafting is tbe mode in most common use. 
Stocks from half an inch to two inches in diameter GEAFTING 
are usually worked over in this way. The whole top of a 
large tree may tbus be headed back and grafted, so as to 
become even more valuable than one that was grafted in the 
nursery. 

The operation is performed as follows : Saw off the stock 




66 The Garden. 

crosswise, then pare the end smoothly with a knife, Next, 
split it down about two inches with a thin, sharp knife, driven 
with a hammer. A narrow wedge is now driven into the 
middle of the cleft, so as to keep the top of it open about a 
quarter of an inch. Cut the scion (which should not contain 
more than three or four buds) at the lower end, in the form of 
a wedge, about one and a half inches long, contriving to have 
a bud or eye at the top of the part so formed, to insure greater 
success. The scion is next to be inserted on one side of the 
stock, and fitted nicely into the cleft, so that the inner bark of 
the outer side of the scion shall exactly meet that of the stock. 
On large stocks two scions are thus inserted, one on each side. 

The scions being adjusted, carefully withdraw the wedge 
which stands erect between the scions. Make a ball of wax, 
and lay it on the head of the stock, between the scions, and 
press it down, and spread it so as to cover the head, and lap 
over three fourths of an inch all around upon the bark, and rub 
it down smoothly, being careful to make an air and water-joint 
around the scions and over the end of the stock. Where the 
wax passes over the corner of the stock, it should be quite 
thick, to prevent it from cracking. Then cover the cleft on 
each side quite below its lower extremity, and the work is 
done. The next spring cut off nicely the poorest scion in each 
stock, as one is usually quite sufficient. 

For small seedling stocks, or small sprouts on larger trees, 
less than half an inch in diameter, it is well to adopt the whip 
or splice method. 

Cut the stock with a sharp knife, obliquely upward, without 
bruising or starting the bark, and the scion downward, with a 
corresponding angle, to make the two parts fit nicely, care 
being taken that the inner bark of the stock and scion exactly 
meet. Then lay the parts together, and bind them snugly with 
a strand of matting or bass-bark, and cover the splice with 
grafting-wax or clay, to shield it from the air and water. 

Allied to splice gifting is what is called saddle grafting. 
On stocks of half an inch or more in diameter and scions of 



Horticultural Processes. 67 

the same size, this mode is sometimes empk yed with, excellent 
success. In this process, cut the stock with a drawing-knife 
upward, forming a wedge ; then split with a fine saw the scion, 
and with a knife pare away each side to a point, so as to fit 
the stock ; place the parts together, and hind them firmly with 
matting or bark, and cover the whole with clay or grafting- 
wax. At the end of two months the union will generally be 
sufficiently perfect to allow the removal of the covering and 
the ligature, which, if left on too long, will injure the growth. 

In-arch grafting is used when others will scarcely succeed. 
The two trees must stand close to each other. A twig of each, 
without being cut from its tree, must be pared with a long, 
corresponding slanting cut, and the two raw edges must be 
fitted nicely, and bound firmly together, and the joint covered 
with the composition. When the union has taken place, the 
trees are so separated as to leave the scion on the tree where 
it is wanted. 

A mode called root grafting is practiced extensively in nurs- 
eries. The two-year seedling stocks are headed down to within 
an inch or so of the collar or crown ; they are then split, and 
the scion inserted, as in common cleft grafting. The scion is 
held in its place by a piece of matting bound round the stock. 
The stocks to be used for this purpose are generally taken up 
in the fall, grafted in the winter at the fireside, and packed 
away in the cellar till spring, when they are properly planted ; 
the point of insertion of the graft being covered with the soil. 
No wax or clay is necessary. Scions may also be grafted on 
small roots by common splice grafting. The point of union 
should be covered with soil to the depth of two inches. 

Grafting may be performed at almost any season of the year 
with scions properly kept ; but by far the best time- is from 
the middle of February, in mild weather, all along until the 
middle of May at the North, and till the end of March at the 
South — stone-fruits first, and other fruits somewhat later. 

Neither grafting nor budding can be successful, unless be- 
fcw een different varieties of the same species, as the apple upon 



68 The Garden. 

a seedling apple-tree stock ; or between nearly allied speciea 
of the same genus, as between the apple and the pear, which 
unions are comparatively imperfect and short-lived ; or, thirdly, 
between nearly allied genera, as between the cherry and the 
plum, which maintain a feeble existence for a limited period, 
and then die. All unions, therefore, between widely different 
genera and species, are utterly impossible, as the graft can not 
live upon the sap supplied by the stock, any more than a lion 
can be fed upon grass. 

To produce dwarf trees, Apple is grafted upon Paradise (or 
Doucin) stocks ; the Pear upon the Quince, Thorn, or Mountain 
Ash ; the Peach upon the Plum ; the Plum upon Mirabelle 
Plum seedlings ; the Cherry upon the Cerasus Mahaleb, and, 
in general, any tree upon any other kindred tree of slower or 
smaller growth. 

The stock and the graft (scion or bud) exert influences upon 
each other mutually. The stock often affects the size and 
flavor of the fruit borne by the graft. Of a graft or stock, 
either may communicate its own diseases and infirmities to the 
other. It is pretty well established, also, that stocks bearing 
early fruits have an influence in accelerating the ripening of 
the fruits which may be made to grow upon them by grafting. 

Grafting Wax. — To make grafting wax of an excellent 
quality, take four parts of resin, two of beeswax, and one of 
tallow; melt the whole together, pour the composition into 
cold water, and work it over thoroughly, pulling it as you 
would molasses candy. The hardness of the wax may be in- 
creased or lessened by applying more or less tallow. In cold 
weather keep the composition in warm water, and in warm 
weather in cold water, to secure the proper consistency for use. 
In using it, the hands should be slightly greased. 

XIV.-PEUNING. 

The principal objects sought to be attained by pruning ara 
to promote the growth, improve the form, and increase the 
fruitfulness of trees. No operation iu horticulture requires 



HOKTICULTUBAL PROCESSES. 69 

the exercise of more knowledge, judgment, and skill, in ordei* 
to the attainment of complete success ; but in general no opera- 
tion is more carelessly, ignorantly, and bunglingly performed, 
or more frequently neglected. 

Pruning to promote the growth of a tree proceeds upon the 
principle that the sap which would have been appropriated 
to the support of the branches, or parts of the top, taken off, 
will go to increase the vigor of the parts which remain. This 
is true within certain limits, but the process must not be car- 
ried too far. Sufficient top must be left to supply leaves for 
the elaboration of the sap. 

Young trees, two or three years from the seed, or one year 
from the graft, are not infrequently headed down to two or 
three buds, on purpose to strengthen their growth. A single 
bud is then trained vertically, and the rest pruned away in the 
course of the summer. In such cases, the growth of the top 
being attended with a corresponding increase of fibrous roots, 
the tree at once becomes vigorous and healthy. 

Peach trees, in our climate, are highly benefited by thus 
shortening-in annually, in the spring, one half, or thereabouts, 
of their entire growth of the previous summer, all over the 
heads of the trees. 

Dwarf pears on quince also require a similar heading-in, an« 
nually each spring, so long as they continue to make a growth 
of scions. 

Pruning to improve the form is applied mostly to ornamental 
trees, to which almost any desirable shape may be given by 
this means. If one part of a tree should outgrow another part, 
the former may be shortened-in in winter, and the shoots pinched 
off the next summer, till the sap is thrown in the right direc- 
tion into the weaker branches, and the balance restored. 
"When you desire the new shoots of a branch to take an upright 
direction, prune to an inside bud ; while, if you wish an open, 
spreading top, prune to an outside bud, etc. Do not trim the 
stems or trunks of your trees (whether ornamental or fruit- 
trees) to bare poles, but allow the branches to form near tha 



70 The Garden. 

ground, as they naturally will in open ground. Your orna- 
mental trees will thus he more beautiful, and your fruit-treea 
more likely to bear well. 

Everything that is favorable to rapid and vigorous growth is 
unfavorable to immediate fruitfulness, hence pruning to induce 
fruitfulness is performed after vegetation has commenced. This 
checks the growth of the wood, impedes the circulation of the 
sap, and promotes the formation of fruit. Top pruning or 
shortening-in is the most common form of pruning to induce 
fruitfulness. Pruning the roots has a similar effect. The oper- 
ation of root pruning is thus performed : 

At a few feet from the trunk of the tree, varying the dis- 
tance according to its size, dig a circular ditch around it, 
eighteen or twenty inches deep, cutting off all the lateral roots 
smoothly, close to the circular mass of earth in which the tree 
stands, removing the outer pieces of roots from the surrounding 
ground, as much as can be done conveniently. Fill up the 
trench with good, rich soil, and the tree will, in this country, 
generally be brought into a permanent fruit-bearing state. 
Repeating the operation annually, apples, pears, and other 
fruit-trees may be rendered productive dwarfs — even so as to 
be planted only six or eight feet apart. And, if at the same 
time we apply the shortening-in process above described, they 
may be kept in a beautiful pyramidal form, and rendered very 
profitable. This work may be done in autumn, in whiter, or 
early in the spring. 

Pruning ought to be performed with sharp tools. When the 
saw is used, the ends of the limbs should afterward be care- 
fully pared with a knife. They should then be covered with 
some composition to protect them from the weather. Down- 
ing's Gum-Shellac is admirably adapted to this purpose. This 
preparation is made by dissolving a quantity of the gum in 
alcohol, so that the composition shall be of the consistency of 
thin molasses. The liquid should be kept in a wide-mouthed 
bottle, the cork of which should have a wire (running through 
it into the bottle), with a sponge attached to the end of it. 



Horticultural Processes. 11 

When the object of pruning is to promote the growth or 
Improve the form of a tree, the operation is generally performed 
in the winter or early in the spring. Some, however, recom- 
uiend pruning in May or June. 

XV.— TRAINING. 

In England, where fruit-trees generally are trained on walle 
and trellises, this process requires much time and labor on the 
part of the gardener. In this country it is hardly applied at 
all, except to vines and pear-trees, and to the latter only occa- 
sionally. The principal object of training is to produce from a 
certain number of branches a larger quantity of fruit than 
would grow on them if left in their natural state. This is 
effected by spreading and bending the branches so as to form 
numerous depositions of the returning sap, aided, where the 
tree is trained against a wall, by the shelter and reflected heat 
which the latter affords. 

Directions for training the grapevine will be given under its 
proper head. 

A new mode of training fruit-trees, practiced in the north 
of Eussia, is well deserving of trial in the colder parts of Few 
England, especially for cultivating the peach. A tree, one year 
from the graft, is headed down to two healthy, strong wood- 
buds. These are trained horizontally, about ten or twelve 
inches from the ground, to a south wall — perhaps the north 
side of a wall might do quite as well, in our more changeable 
climate. These arms are suffered to throw up vertical shoots, 
which become covered with fruit-spurs. These vertical shoots 
are kept shortened-in, to a length of not more than about 
one or two feet; and these, with the two horizontal arms 
from which they spring, and the short trunk of about ten 
to fourteen inches in length, constitute all there is of the 
tree above ground. The whole tree may be covered, through 
the winter, with two feet or more of soil heaped over it, 
with a deep bank of snow, or with straw, evergreen boughs, 
or the like. 



72 The Garden. 

Peaches, we are convinced, can be raised in this way where 
they fail entirely under ordinary treatment. It has hardlj 
been fairly tried, however, in this country.* 



* In preparing the condensed directions for transplanting, budding, grafting, 
pruning, training, etc., contained in this chapter, we have been deeply in- 
debted to the valuable little manual of George Jaques, entitled "A Practice. 
Treatise on the Management of Fruit-Trees," which we cordially recommeud. 
Be« also Barry's " Fruit Garden" or these points. 



The Kitchen Gaeden. 



73 



VI. 

THE KITCHEN GARDE 



1 consider the kitchen garden of very considerable importance, as pot-herbs, salads, and 
roots of various kinds are useful in housekeeping. Having a plenty of them at hand, a family 
will not be so likely to run into the error which is too common in this country, of eating flesh 
In too great a proportion for health.— Dr. Deane. 




I.— ESCULENT BOOTS. 

1. The Potato — Solarium Tuberosum. 

| HE potato, called by the French la pomme 
de terre, and by the Germans bie ^artoffet, 
a native of the elevated equatorial regions 
of South America, and is still to be found 
in a wild state in the neighborhood of 
Quito and other places. It appears to have 
been introduced into North America and cultivated by 
the Virginia colonists as early as 1584. A few years 
later it was carried to England by Sir Walter Ealeigh. 
The varieties of the potato are numberless; and, 
while old sorts are constantly disappearing, new ones 
are every year coming into notice and taking their places. 
The duration of a variety is believed by Knight and others to 
be limited to fourteen years. Very few sorts continue to be 
cultivated even that length of time. New varieties are readily 
produced by planting the seed found in the balls. The opera- 
tion is a simple one, and should more frequently be undertaken. 
There is no doubt but that varieties will yet be obtained in this 
way far superior to any yet known. "We give in the Appendix 
full directions for producing and proving new sorts. 

To give a list of the best varieties of the potato, were it 
practicable, would be useless. The best sorts of this year 
may be put in the second or third rank next year ; besides, 
4 



74 The Garden. 

those to which the preference is given in New York may be 
considered inferior in Pennsylvania, and worthless in Georgia. 
Select for planting those varieties which experience has decided 
to be best adapted to yonr soil and climate, and to combine 
the various qualities required for table use. 

In a cold, moist climate the potato thrives best in a light 
but rich loam. In a dry, hot climate a heavy loam is prefer- 
able, except for the earliest crop. Vegetable manure is best 
for the potato. Ashes and, where the soil needs it, lime, may 
be added with advantage, but, in garden culture, animal ma- 
nures should, so far as possible, be avoided, as their use tends 
to make the tubers moist and waxy. The manure should bo 
well rotted, and thoroughly mixed with the soil. Where you 
can not get sufficient manure of the right kind to properly 
enrich the whole soil, you may scatter it into the drill or hill 
to the thickness of three or four inches. 

In garden culture, plant in drills made with the plow or the 
hoe, from eighteen to twenty-four inches apart (some varieties 
requiring more room than others), placing the sets about nine 
or ten inches apart in the drills. Cover to the depth of from 
four to six inches, according to the texture and condition of 
the soil — a heavy, moist soil requiring less depth of covering 
than a light and dry one. 

In reference to the sets or seed, many and contradictory 
opinions prevail. Some contend that the largest-sized potatoes 
alone should be used for planting; others prefer a ruediure. 
size ; while many use those which are too small for the table. 
Some plant them whole, while others divide them, making 
from two to eight sets from each. Even scooped-out eyes 
have had their advocates. "We have no room in this little 
work to advance arguments or adduce evidence, and must be 
content to give our opinion (as indicated by the mode pursued 
in our own garden), which, however, we believe to be based 
on sound theory and supported by general experience. We 
choose for planting medium sized, fully matured, and every 
u>ay sound and perfect tubers — such as we would select for tL< 



The Kitchen Garden. 75 

table — and, if we have plenty of seed, plant them whole. If 
there be a deficiency of seed, or the price be very high, we 
divide them longitudinally, making two sets of each potato, 
and plant them with the eyes "upward. They should be cut a 
week before planting ; and it is a good plan to roll them in 
ground plaster of Paris or old slaked lime. Something may be 
gained in earliness by cutting the potato transversely in tbe 
middle, and planting only the seed end, which should be set 
upright in the ground. 

In garden culture, potatoes should generally be hoed at least 
three times, to keep the weeds down, earthing them up a little 
each time; but if the ground be little infested with weeds, 
twice will do. The first hoeing should be given soon after the 
shoots appear above the surface of the ground. If they should 
be partially covered with earth by the operation, no harm will 
be done. Potatoes should never be hoed after the blossoms 
appear. Pinching off the flower-buds will considerably increase 
the crop of tubers. 

Potatoes should not be harvested till the tops are mostly 
lead. They should be exposed to the sun only long enough to 
dry them for storage. Store in a dry cellar (when there is 
danger from frost), and cover them with sand or straw. When 
sprouts begin to grow, as they will toward spring, carefully 
rub them off. Their growth will greatly injure the quality of 
the tuber for table use. Those intended for seed should be fre- 
quently turned over to prevent premature growth. 

Of the potato rot, as it is called, little can be profitably said. 
Its cause and remedy are yet to be made known. As pre- 
ventives, a dry soil, the use of lime and ashes, the absence 
of fresh stable manure, early planting, and new, healthy varie- 
ties are recommended. For arresting the disease, cutting off 
the tops on the first appearance of the blight is sometimes 
effectual. 

Potatoes for an early crop are planted in this country from 
the first of January to the first of May, according to the cli- 
mate and season. In the latitude of New York they may iu 



76 The Garden. 

ordinary seasons and in favorable situations be put into the 
ground from the tenth to the twentieth of March. 

For raising Irish potatoes (as they are invariably called 
there) at the South, the plan published by Mr. Peabody of the 
Soil of the South is undoubtedly a good one. "We have tried 
the same mode with fair success at the Forth, using here, 
however, less straw. Mr. Peabody's directions are substantially 
as follows : 

" As soon after Christmas as possible, plow or spade up the 
plot of ground designed for the potato patch, and lay it off in 
furrows two feet apart, and eight or ten inches deep. Fill 
these furrows with decomposed straw or leaves. Divide each 
potato once, and place the sets, cut side downward, upon the 
straw ; now level the ridge made by the furrow, covering seed, 
straw, and all, and then scatter straw evenly over all to the 
depth of eighteen inches or two feet. No further culture is 
required. In the dryest seasons the yield will be greater than 
when planted in the ordinary way. Many have failed in this 
mode of culture because they have not applied half straw 
enough." 

2. The Sweet Potato — Convolvulus Batatas. 

This best of all esculent roots belongs to the convolvulacece or 
bind-weed family. It is a native of the East Indies, but grows 
in perfection in our Southern States. It is raised in large 
quantities in Delaware and New Jersey, and even farther 
north, but the quality of the tubers is inferior to that of those 
produced at the South. 

A dry, loamy soil, inclining to sand, is best for the sweet 
potato. It should be well manured. The special manure* 
indicated by an analysis of the root are potash and the phos- 
phates. 

Where the season is sufficiently long to mature it, the sweet 
potato may be propagated by cutting the seed into slips, and 
planting them where they are to grow ; but at the North the 
sprouts must always be started in a hot-bed. Place the pota- 



The Kitchen Gaeden. 17 

toes in the bed early in April, covering them three or four 
inches deep. They will throw up sprouts in three or four 
weeks. When these are about four inches above the surface, 
they may be separated from the parent tuber and planted out 
in hills, leaving the latter to put out other shoots for future 
plantings. The hills or beds should be about four feet apart, 
and raised from six inches to a foot above the common level of 
the ground. Some make continuous ridges four feet apart, and 
plant the sprouts on the top, about a foot asunder. They must 
be kept free from weeds till the vines cover the ground. They 
are fit for gathering when the vines are dead. They are very 
difficult to preserve through the winter. A careful seclusion 
from air and light, the absence of frost, and absolute dryness 
are essential to their preservation. The best way to cook them 
is by baking. 

3. The Turnip — Brassica Bepa. 

The French call the turnip le navet, and the Germans ber 
©tetfritk. It has been in cultivation at least two hundred and 
fifty years. There are many varieties. For early crops the 
Purple-Top Strap-Leaved, Snow-Ball, and the Early Yellow 
Dutch are to be preferred. For later sowing we would name 
Robertson's Golden Stone, Stone Globe, Golden Ball, Sweet 
German, the Purple-Top Swede, Skirving's Improved Swede, 
the White French, River's Swede, and Ashcroft's Swede. Skirv- 
ing's Improved is, perhaps, the best of the Swedes. 

Turnips thrive best in a rich, sandy loam. Bone-dust, lime, 
ashes, and plaster of Paris are good special manures. Sow in 
drills about two feet apart. Thin out the plants gradually to 
six or eight inches apart. They may be readily transplanted 
if desired. Stir the soil well, and keep the weeds in subjec- 
tion. English turnips do well sown broadcast. Sow the early 
sorts from February to May, according to climate and season. 
Other sowings may be made in July and August for winter 
use. In the latitude of Georgia they may be sowed as late as 
October. Harvesting should )e deferred till the approach of 



78 The Garden. 

cold weather — or at the South they may remain in the ground 
all winter. 

4. The Beet — Beta Vulgaris. 

The heet (Fr. Beterave) is a native of the south of Europe- 
It takes its name from the form of its seed-vessel, which resem- 
bles the Greek letter beta (/3). The best varieties are Extra 
Early Turnip or Bassano, the Early Turnip, the Long Blood, 
and the London Blood. 

A light soil, well enriched with manure and well broken up, 
suits the beet. It will grow in almost any soil. Sow in drills 
a foot apart and about an inch deep. Drop the seeds three 
inches apart, cover smoothly, and press the earth firmly upon 
them. Radishes may be sown in the same bed, as they will 
be removed before the beets are ready for thinning. Keep 
the ground well stirred and free from weeds, and thin the 
beets to about six inches apart. Sow the early sorts in March, 
or the first of April, in the latitude of New York. The later 
varieties may be sowed in May or June. 

In gathering your beets, cut off the leaves an inch or two 
above the collar, and be careful not to break or bruise the root. 
To preserve them through the winter, store in a dry cellar. 
They keep best packed in sand. 

5. The Oaeeot — Daucus Carota. 

The carrot (Er. Carotte) is supposed to have been introduced 
into Europe from the island of Crete. The Early Horn is the 
most forward in ripening, and fully equal in color and flavor to 
any other sort. It may be sown from the middle of April to 
the middle of July in the latitude of New York, and in the 
South from January to April inclusive. The Long Orange 
grows very long and large, but is not equal in flavor to tho 
Early Horn. The Altringham is a bright-red variety, of an 
excellent flavor, and keeps well for winter use. It is not quite 
bo hardy as the other sorts. 

The carrot succeeds best in a light, rich soil. It must be 
deeply dug and wel broken up, or the roots will grow forked 



The Kitchen Garden. T9 

and crooked. Choose a warm spot and a calm day for sowing. 
Sow in drills half an inch deep, and for the Early Horn nine 
inches apart. For the other varieties twelve inches apart is 
better. Radishes may he sowed in the same bed. Stir the 
ground frequently and deeply, and thin out to from three to 
six inches apart. The latter is the proper distance when the 
plants are to he left to grow to the full size. The directions 
for preparing and preserving them for winter use are the same 
as for beets. 

6. The Paesnep — Partinaca Sativa. 
This very palatable and exceedingly nutritious root is a native 
of Sardinia, and in its wild state is said to be poisonous. In 
French it is called le panais. The best variety is the Sugar 
or Hollow Crown. Soil and culture the same as for the carrot 
and beet. Bone-dust and ashes are the special manures most 
likely to be required. Late in the fall take up as many as you 
need for winter use. The rest may remain in the ground, as 
frost seems to improve their flavor. In the South, lift them 
as wanted during the winter. 

7. Salsify — Tragopogon Porrifolium. 

The Salsify, or Oyster Plant, is a native of England, and is 
less known in this country than it deserves to be. Sow and 
cultivate the same as the parsnep. A portion of the crop may 
remain in the ground all winter. Prepared and cooked accord- 
ing to the following directions, it will be found to resemble the 
oyster in flavor : 

Scrape the roots slightly, soak them in water for an hour, 
and then boil till quite tender. Now let them drain for a short 
time; meanwhile make a thick batter with white of eggs 
beaten up with a little flour. Grate the roots tolerably fine, 
press them into flattened balls of the size of an oyster, dip 
them in the batter, roll them into grated crackers, and fry 
them in a pan till brown. Another way is to parboil, cut in 
slices, and fry either witl; >r without the batter. Try it. 



80 The Garden. 

8. Jerusalem Artichoke — Heliantlius Tuberosum. 
This plant is a species of sunflower, and is occasionally culti- 
vated for its tuberous roots. It may be planted like the potato, 
and will grow anywhere. 

II. — THE LEGUMES. 

The Pea — Pisum Sativum. 

This universally cultivated plant originated in the south of 
Europe. The catalogues of the seedsmen embrace twenty or 
more varieties, and new sorts are constantly appearing. Of the 
early peas, the earliest at present known is Dillisotone's Early, 
and next, perhaps, and better known, is Early Dan O'Rourke. 
Hovey's Extra Early and Landreth's Extra Early, improved 
American varieties of great merit, are nearly if not quite as 
early as the Dan O'Rourke. Champion of Paris, Champion of 
England and Advancer, all excellent sorts, are a little later. Tom 
Thumb is an early variety remarkable for its extreme dwarfness, 
seldom rising over twelve inches in height. 

Blue Imperial, King of the Marrows, and the Ne Plus Ultra 
are among the best to succeed the early crops. To follow the 
last-named, for late crops, British Queen or Mammoth ; Carter's 
Victoria, Competitor, Knight's Tall Green Marrow and Cham- 
pion of Scotland may be recommended. 

It is well enough to give the new varieties yearly introduced 
a fair trial, as sorts superior to any now named may be origin- 
ated ; but the claims set up for new kinds by interested propa- 
gators are often unfounded and preposterous. 

For the early sorts a light, warm, dry, and moderately rich 
soil is to be preferred. If manure be used, it should be weL 
rotted; but it is better to take ground which has been made 
sufficiently rich by a previous year's manuring. The later and 
taller varieties require a heavier soil. 

You may plant your early peas at almost any time when the 
ground is not actually frozen, covering with mulch if necessary. 
In the .atitude of New York they may generally be planted 
before the twentieth of March — sometimes on the first — and 



The Kitchen Garden. 81 

require no protection. In the South, any time from January 
to March will do. Plant in double drills, from six to nine 
inches apart, according to the variety. The rows should be 
three feet apart for the smaller sorts, and from four to six for 
the larger. Cover the early kinds one inch deep, and the late 
an inch and a half, The sticks should be from two and a half 
to three feet for the early sorts. The British Queen reaches 
the height of five or six feet, and Knight's Tall Marrow is a still 
loftier grower. "When the plants are about two inches high, 
stir the ground well, and earth them up a little. Eepeat this 
operation several times before setting the sticks or brush, 
which should be done when the peas are from six to eight 
inches high. If the season be dry, watering will much increase 
the crop. Topping off the points of the vines soon after the 
first blossoms appear will hasten the growth of the fruit. The 
smaller kinds of early peas may be planted about half an inch 
apart in the drills, and the later and larger sorts from a third 
of an inch to an inch. It is well to soak them twenty-four 
hours before planting. 

To forward an early crop, plant in lines from east to west, 
and stick a row of cedar, spruce-fir, or other evergreen branches 
along the north side, sloping so as to bend over the plants at 
one foot or eighteen inches from the ground. These protect 
them from cold rains and at the same time leave them open to 
the full influence of the sun. Behind this temporary hedge 
there should be a close board fence, a brick or stone wall, or a 
high close hedge. 

Beans, cabbage, lettuce, radish, or celery may be planted 
between the rows of peas, especially of the earlier sorts. 

Peas which are to be ripened or dried should not be sowed 
before the tenth of June, as all earlier crops will be infected 
with bugs. 

2. The Bush-Bean — Phaseolw Vulgaris. 

The bean is believed to be a native of India, whence it was 
Drought to England near the close of the sixteenth century. In 
4* 



82 The Garden. 

one form or another it is universally esteemed. Of the coin, 
mon Bush, Snap, or Kidney bean there are many varieties. 
Among the best are the Early Mohawk (a very hardy sort), 
Early Six Weeks, Early Valentine, Early Dun Colored, Early 
Pink Eye, Early White Marrow, Late Valentine, and the Royal 
Kidney. The tender pods of all these sorts are eaten as string- 
beans ; but they are also excellent taken from the pods after 
they are nearly or quite grown, and boiled and prepared in the 
same way that Lima beans usually are. For this mode of cook- 
ing we prefer the Pink Eye and the Early White Marrow. 

Beans will thrive in almost any soil ; but for an early crop 
it should be light and dry. If the ground be too wet, they are 
liable to rot. Bone-dust, ashes, and super-phosphate of lime 
are very useful as manures. The bean is destroyed by a slight 
frost, and can therefore seldom be planted, in this climate, till 
the middle of April, or even later. Plant once in two weeks 
till the last of August, to keep up a succession for the table. 
Plant in drills from eighteen inches to two feet asunder, drop- 
ping the beans two inches apart, and covering them about an 
inch deep. Give them frequent and deep hoeings, drawing a 
little earth to the stems. 

The Small White bean, so extensively used in New England 
for baking, may be planted in any vacant spots in the garden 
in June or July, and will require no care except to keep the 
weeds down. 

3. The Common Pole Bean — Phaseolus Multiflorm. 
Of the common running or pole bean (le haricot a rames of 
the French), the best varieties are the Dutch Case Knife, London 
Horticultural, White Cranberry, and Scarlet Runner. Plant 
in hills from the first to the middle of May, and give them 
poles when they begin to put forth runners ; or, better, set the 
poles first, and plant the beans around them. Or they may ba 
planted in drills along a border, or on each side of a walk, and 
trained on a slight trellis of laths and lines, and thus be made 
emamenta. as we'll as useful. 



The Kitchen Gaeden. 83 

4. The Lima Bean — Phaseolus Limensis. 

Of tlie Phaseolus Limensis there are three varieties cultivated 
in the United States — the Green Lima, the White Lima, and 
the Carolina Sewee. The White Lima is to be preferred. It 
requires a strong, rich soil, and should not be planted til] 
settled, warm weather, as the seed is very liable to rot in the 
ground if the weather be cool. 

Beans of all kinds can easily be preserved for winter use, 
with very little loss of flavor. You have only to pick them in 
the same state as when for immediate use, and dry them thor- 
oughly in the sun. Tou may have green beans all the year 
with very little trouble. 

5. The Pea-Nut — Arachis Hypogea. 
This plant, known also as the pindar ground pea and ground 
nut, is a legume bearing its seed under ground. It is cultivated 
extensively in some of the Southern States as a field crop, but a 
few hills may find place in the Southern garden. Make the 
hills two and a half or three feet apart, and drop three or four 
of the shelled seeds in each. Cover them two inches deep. 
Thin the plants to two in a hill, and keep the ground free from 



IH.— THE CABBAGE FAMILY. 

1. The Common Cabbage — Brassica Oleraoea. 
The cabbage (Fr. chou pomme) is one of the most ancient of 
garden vegetables. It is mentioned by Pliny as being much 
esteemed hi his times. It was a favorite with the Eomans, who 
probably introduced it into England. Its varieties are almost 
numberless. Of the common cabbage, the following are the 
most desirable : Early York (very early, and of a delicate flavor), 
Atkins' Matchless (small but tender and delicately flavored,) 
Large York, Early Drumhead, Winningstadt (intermediate in 
season), Bergen Drumhead, Large Drumhead, MarbLehead 
Mammoth, Champion of America, Mason, and Stone-Mason 
(late). The Bergen Drumhead, Marblehead Mammoth and 
Stone-Mason grow to a very large size, and are favorites witk 



84 The Garden. 

market-gardeners. The large Red Dutch is one of the latest 
of cabbages. It is chiefly used for pickling. The Utrecht Red 
is a smaller red cabbage of fine quality. 

The cabbage will grow in any soil sufficiently enriched and 
properly prepared. It must be plowed or dug deeply, and well 
pulverized. Common salt, ashes, plaster of Paris, and bono- 
dust may be used with advantage, as the plant abounds in sul- 
phur, phosphorus, soda, and potash. Animal manures may 
also be freely used. 

For producing early spring cabbages, various plans are pur- 
sued. The best mode for general adoption is the following: 
About the tenth of September, for southern New York (a little 
earlier for New England, and a little later for the South), sow 
seeds of the Early York, Nonpareil, or Vanack in a seed-bed 
of rich, light soil. If the weather be dry, sprinkle the bed 
with water a few times, to promote germination. "When large 
enough to transplant, set them quite thickly in a cold frame or 
walled pit, for protection during the winter. The frame or 
pit may be covered with boards, adding straw, if necessary, 
when the frost is severe. Give the plants air whenever the 
weather will permit. Carefully exclude the rain, as too much 
moisture will injure them. Early in the spring transplant into 
' the compartment of the garden designed for them. "Where the 
winters are not too severe, they may be brought forward a 
week or two earlier by planting them out in the fall in good, 
rich soil, previously prepared by throwing it up into high 
ridges, running east and west, and about two feet apart. On 
the south sides of these ridges set out the plants one foot apart. 
They will then be shielded from the north winds, and receive 
all the benefit of the sun. "When the weather becomes severe, 
cover with straw, laying it across the ridges. This may be 
removed whenever mild weather returns. Early cabbages 
may also be obtained by starting the plants in a hot-bed, sowing 
in February or March. 

In transplanting cabbages, especially the early ones, the 
growth of which it is important not to check, take them nn 



The Kitchen Garden. 85 

with, a trowel, removing considerable earth with them, in order 
not to disturb their roots. 

For summer, autumn, and winter use, sow Early Dutch and 
Drumhead in April and May. Transplant into rows two feet 
apart, and eighteen inches apart in the row. Give the plants 
a copious watering the evening previous to taking up, and 
water again after setting out. The whole secret of their after- 
culture lies in frequent and deep hoeing. Hoe while the dew 
is on, if practicable. Never strip off the lower leaves. 

To preserve cabbages in perfection through the winter, the 
following is the best mode with which we are acquainted : As 
late in the fall as the weather will permit, dig trenches eighteen 
or twenty inches apart, parallel to each other, and of any con- 
venient length. Now dig out your cabbages with a spade, and 
transplant them into these trenches as close together as they 
will stand, covering root and stem to the lower leaf. Around 
this bed raise a kind of frame with old po#s, rails, or boards 
and earth, making it a little higher at one side than the other, 
and high enough at the lower side to prevent its roof or cover- 
ing from coming in contact with the cabbages. Across this 
frame place poles, lath, or narrow boards, and cover the 
whole thickly with straw, bean haulm, corn-stalks, or any ma- 
terial of that sort. In this way you may have cabbages up to 
April, of as fine a flavor as when transplanted into the trenches. 
A few may be transplanted into a similar trench in the cellar, 
where, of course, they will require no covering. 

2. Savoy Cabbage — Brassica Oleracea Sabaijtda. 

This member of the great cabbage family takes its name from 
Savoy. It differs from the common cabbage in the wrinkled 
character of its leaves. There are only two varieties worthy 
of culture — the Curled and the Drumhead. The former is to 
be preferred for family use. It is superior in delicacy to the 
common cabbage. Cultivation the same as the winter varieties 
vf the latter c 

Brussels Sprouts (chou de Bruxelles) is considered a sub- 



86 The Garden. 

variety of the Savoy. It is a celebrated vegetable in Europe, 
but is not often seen in American gardens. Sow in April, and 
transplant in June into rows eighteen inches apart. Cultivate 
like cabbages. The stem grows to the height of two feet or 
more, and is crowned with numerous little heads of from one 
to two inches in diameter. After they have been frosted 
(which is necessary to their perfection), they may be gathered. 
To prepare them for the table, soak an hour in cold water; 
boil about twenty minutes ; drain ; season to the taste ; stew 
gently in a sauce of cream or floured butter, stirring them con- 
stantly. They are sometimes served with tomato sauce. They 
may also be cooked simply as cabbages, and eaten with meat. 

3. Borecole — Brassica Oleracea Fimbriate/,. 

This plant, also called German Greens (Fr. chou vert) and 
Scotch Kale, is one of the most delicate and valuable of the 
cabbage tribe. It has large, wrinkled leaves, forming an open 
head or stool. It is perfectly hardy, frost only improving it. 
It remains green and eatable all winter, requiring only a slight 
protection in the Northern States, and none at all at the South. 
Tor winter and spring greens it is unequaled. Sow and 
cultivate the same as the cabbage. No garden should be 
without it. 

4. The Cauliflower — Brassica Oleracea Botrytis. 

The cauliflower is a kind of cabbage, with long, pale green 
leaves, surrounding a mass or head of white flower-buds. The 
French very appropriately call it le chou-fleur. It was intro- 
duced into England from the island of Cyprus. There are only 
two true varieties — the Early and the Late. 

The cauliflower requires a very rich soil and careful culture. 
For the early spring or summer crop, sow the seed from the 
first to the twentieth of September, in a properly prepared 
seed-bed. "When the plants are two inches high, transplant 
them into a bed of very rich, light soil, three inches apart each 
way, so that they may grow firm and stocky for removal to their 



The Kitchen Garden. 87 

final place of growth. This should be a bed of the richest 
light earth, two feet deep, and one third of it well-decomposed 
manure, surrounded by a frame or wall, and covered with glass 
or shutters. An open exposure, sheltered from the northwest, 
is essential. The bed should be prepared about the first of 
October, to give it time to settle. Into this bed remove your 
plants about the middle of October (or earlier in a very cold 
climate), setting them eighteen inches apart. Take them up 
carefully with a trowel, and in planting press down the soil 
pretty firmly upon the roots, giving it a gentle watering at the 
same time. No further watering will be required till spring. 
Protect the plants carefully against frost, covering the sash or 
shutters with matting or straw if necessary ; but do not neglect 
to give them the air every mild, clear day. They must not be 
left open to the rain, as too much moisture will cause them to 
"damp off," as it is called, at the neck. When the weather 
becomes warmer in spring, copious waterings may be given. 
Soap-suds and other liquid manures are applied with advantage. 
Early lettuce may be sowed in the same bed between the rows 
of cauliflowers. 

When a cauliflower has attained its full size, which will be 
indicated by the opening of the border, cut off the head with 
several inches of the stem, and most of the leaves, these being 
taken off, however, before cooking. 

For the autumn crop sow in April, transplant into rich soil, 
two feet apart. Hoe frequently and deeply, and if the season 
be dry, water copiously. They must not suffer from drouth. 
You may know when they need water by the drooping of the 
leaves. The hills about the plant should form a hollow basin 
to retain the moisture. 

The cauliflower is a wholesome and nutritious vegetable, and 
should be more generally cultivated. To cook, soak an houf 
in cold water with a handful of salt in it ; then boil till tender 
in milk and water, taking care to skim the surface, so that not 
the least foulness may fall on the flower. It may be served up 
with sauce, gravy, or melted butter. 



88 The Garden. 

5. Beooooli — Brassica Oleracea Botrytis Cymosa. 

This plant is similar to the cauliflower, from which it is sup- 
posed to have originated. It differs from the latter in its undu- 
lating leaves, its larger size, and its color. It is also a hardier 
plant, but not so delicate in flavor. Grange's Early White 
and the Purple Cape are the best varieties. White recommends 
the latter for the South. Sow in April or May, and treat in the 
same manner as the late cauliflower. They will commence 
heading in October. To have them during the winter, in a 
northern climate, they must be pitted in a cellar or shed. 
South of Virginia they need little, if any, protection. 

The turnip cabbage (Fofyl xabi), Brassica napo Irassiea, and 
the turnip-rooted cabbage, Brassica caulo rapa, may be added 
to our list, although they are little cultivated. The former, of 
which the Char Navet de Zaporie, from France, is the best, 
requires the same cultivation as the cabbage, and the latter 
should be treated like the Swede turnip. The Green Stemmed 
and the Purple Stemmed are recommended. 

IV.-SPINACEOUS PLANTS. 

1. Spinach — Spinacea Oleracea. 

This vegetable — Vepinard of the French — is a native of 
Spain, and is extensively cultivated on the continent of Europe. 
It is excellent for greens, and should receive more attention 
than has yet been accorded to it in this country. There are 
three varieties — the Prickly-Seeded, the Eound-Seeded, and the 
Flanders. The first is best for sowing in the fall for winter 
crops, in a cold climate ; but for spring sowing, and for a mild 
climate, the second is to be preferred. The Flanders is little 
known in this country, but is said to be superior to either of 
the other sorts. 

Spinach requires a rich soil. Sow in drills a quarter of an 
inch deep and nine inches apart. For winter and early spring 
crops, sow about the last of August, and again about the mid- 
dle of September. For summer use, sow from the first of 



The Kitchen Garden. 89 

April to the twenty-fifth of May. Select an open sitnation. 
If the soil be light and dry, it must be trodden down or rolled 
with a roller on sowing. Thin out the plants to nine inches 
apart. Hoe frequently and thoroughly. The winter crop will 
require the protection of a thin layer of straw during the 
severe weather. 

2. New Zealand Spinach — Tetragonia Mcpansa. 

This is an annual plant from New Zealand. It furnishes a 
good substitute for spinach during the summer, when the latter 
fails, but, as it requires to be forwarded in a frame or hot-bed, 
is hardly worth the trouble it costs in a northern climate. 

Garden Orache (atriplex hortensis) and Garden Patience 
(rumex patienta) are sometimes used in the place of spinach, 
but are only worthy of a mere mention here. 

V.— ASPAEAGINOUS PLANTS. 

1. Asparagus — Asparagus Officinalis. 

The asparagus plant is a native of the sea-coasts of Great 
Britain. The varieties may be reduced to two — the Green Top 
and the Purple Top. 

Asparagus is propagated only by seed, but in forming a new 
bed it is the most economical plan to procure plants two or 
three years old from some nurseryman or gardener. If you 
purpose to raise your own plants, sow early in the spring, in a 
seed-bed formed of rich, sandy loam, in drills an inch and a 
half deep, and eighteen inches from row to row, pressing the 
earth firmly upon the seed. Keep the bed free from weeds by 
frequent hoeing. About the first of the following November 
spread stable litter or something of the sort over the ground, to 
keep the young plants from the frost. 

For the permanent bed, a rich, sandy loam is best. Select, 
if possible, an open situation and a warm southern exposure. 
Trench or spade deeply, digging in a plenty of manure, as the 
Bill can hardly be made too rich or too deep. Over a plot 
forty feet long and twenty feet wide (which will be large 



90 The Garden. 

enough for a moderate family), sow from fifty to a hundred 
pounds of salt, incorporating it with the soil to the depth of 
four or five inches. The ground having been well pulverized 
and leveled, lay it off into beds about four feet wide, with 
alleys two feet wide between them. Drive a stake at each 
corner. This work should all be done toward the end of 
March. Now cut a small trench or furrow six inches deep, 
lengthwise of the bed, and about nine inches from the edge. 
Take up the plants very carefully from the seed rows, and set 
them in this trench or furrow, nine inches apart, with the 
crown of the root two inches below the surface, and cover 
them at once. Proceed in the same manner with the whole, 
making the rows twelve or fourteen inches apart. A damp 
day should be chosen for the operation, which must be care- 
fully and skillfully performed. Keep the weeds down during 
tbe summer, and on the approach of severe weather cover the 
beds to the depth of three or four inches with rotten manure. 
The first two years the plants are permitted to run up to 
stalks, that strong crowns may be formed at their base for a 
future crop. The winter dressing of manure must be continued 
while the bed lasts, the tops being cut off and removed each 
fall. In the spring, so soon as the frost will permit, loosen the 
surface of the beds with a manure fork, introducing it three 
or four inches into the soil, and turning it up, being careful 
not to injure the crown of the roots. A full crop may be ex- 
pected the fourth year after planting, or at the South a year 
earlier. Cut when about four or five inches above the surface. 
The shoot should be cut off slantingly about three inches 
below the surface, using a long, sharp-pointed knife. The 
cutting should never extend beyond the middle of June. 

With good culture, an asparagus bed will continue product- 
ive for fifteen years, but too many shoots must not be cut from 
it, nor the cutting prolonged beyond the time we have named. 

2. Sea Kale — Crwmba Maratima. 
This plant is closely related to the cabbage, and is called by 



The Kitchen Garden. 91 

the French le chou marin, It is easily cultivated, and we rec- 
ommend our readers to try it. 

Sea Kale flourishes best in a sandy soil, well enriched with 
decomposed vegetable manure and a top-dressing of salt. Sow 
the seed in March or April, watering the bed freely if the 
weather be dry. Thin out the plants gradually to two or three 
inches apart, keeping the bed free from weeds by frequent 
hoeing. In November cover the crowns of the plants with a 
few inches of earth. In the spring, prepare beds as for aspara- 
gus, and remove your plants in a similar manner, setting them 
about two feet apart, and covering the crown of the root about 
two inches deep. "Water occasionally, if the season be dry, 
and hoe frequently. Allow no plants to go to seed. Early in 
November give the bed two inches of well-rotted manure, 
forking it over lightly at the same time. Now cover the 
crowns of the plants with three or four inches of light soil, or 
with pure sand if you can readily procure it. The bed being 
thus finished, cover the crowns of the plants with large pots 
or boxes, sinking them one or two inches in the ground, and 
carefully stopping any holes in them. Then procure a quantity 
of leaves from the woods, mis them with about the same 
quantity of warm stable manure, and cover the ground and 
boxes to the depth of twenty inches. In severe weather 
throw over this some dry litter or boards. The materials will 
come to a heat in two or three weeks ; and in three or four 
weeks more it will be time to examine a pot or two, and when 
the plants are found to have sprouts from six to eight inches 
long, they may be cut for use. Eemove a portion of the earth, 
and cut close to the crown, and then replace the box or pot, 
and the other materials, and other shoots will soon appear. 
The plants will continue in a vigorous state of growth for two 
months, giving you a supply for the table nearly the whola 
winter ; and having your bed once formed, the forcing process 
just described may be repeated every year for fourteen or fif- 
teen years. In the spring remove the covering gradually, dig- 
ging in a few inches of the decayed material to strengthen the 
plant for a future crop. 



92 The'Gaeden. 

To have sea kale without forcing, cover the plants early in 
the spring with eight or ten inches of sand, or fine, light soil. 
They will produce strong shoots, which, on clearing the ground 
around them, will be found to be of a clear white color ; or 
they may be blanched by covering them deeply with oat-straw. 
They are useless unless well blanched. The shoots are cooked 
in the same way as asparagus. 

VI.-E8CULENT BULBS. 
1. The Onion — Allium Cepa. 

The onion is supposed to be a native of Asia. Its culture 
is of "inscrutable antiquity." The most useful varieties are 
the following: Eed Dutch, Portugal, Strasburg, and Silver 
Skinned. The first two varieties named are very hardy and 
keep well, but are of too strong a flavor to suit a delicate 
taste ; the last two are mild-flavored, but are not good keepers. 
The Silver Skinned is much used for pickling. For winter use 
we should choose the Strasburg. 

The onion requires a light and friable, but rich and some- 
what moist soil. The manure used should be well decomposed. 
It need not be deeply mixed with the soil, as the roots of the 
plant do not extend far below the surface. The whole must 
be thoroughly pulverized. The onion may be sowed so soon 
as the ground is in a condition to be worked in the spring. 
Sow in drills half an inch deep and nine or ten inches apart. 
After sowing, press the soil down firmly with a board. Keep 
the bed free from weeds, and stir the soil frequently, but not 
deeply. The onion should not be earthed up at all. It is bet- 
ter that the bulb should be formed entirely above the surface. 
They should be thinned out to two inches apart. This we con- 
sider the best mode of culture for the main crop. 

For an early crop, sow the seed thickly in drills early in 
April ; and when the bulbs have grown to the size of peas, lift 
them, and put away in an airy loft, to keep till the next spring, 
when set them in shallow drills, covering very lightly, if at all. 
They will be ripe in June or July. Soap-suds will not be 



The Kitchen Garden. 93 

wasted on the onion bed. Soot and ashes are also good for 
top-dressings. 

To preserve the winter crop, pnll in a dry day, put them 
under a shed or similar shelter to dry, and store in a loft where 
they can have plenty of air. 

Onions may he sparingly eaten as a salad, but in the raw 
state are rather difficult of digestion. They are most whole- 
some boiled. Boil twenty minutes in water, with a little salt ; 
then pour off the water entirely, and put in equal parts of hot 
water and milk, or skimmed milk alone, and boil twenty min- 
utes more. They may be fried or roasted, but are more diffi- 
cult of digestion in those modes of cooking. 

2. The Top oe Teee Onion — Allium Proliferum. 
This is a very hardy species, producing little bulbs at the toj 
of its seed-stem. It is easily cultivated, comes early to maturity, 
and never fails to produce a crop. Plant the little bulbs very 
early in the spring, cultivating the plants in the same way as 
the other species. They will be ready for use in May or June. 
If large bulbs are required, the seed-stem must be broken off. 
Those not thus treated will produce seed for the next year. 
The top bulbs are considered excellent for pickling. 

3. Potato Onion — Allium Tuberosum. 
This is supposed to be the kind of onion that was worshiped 
by the Egyptians. It is said never to produce either flowers 
or seed. It is propagated by offsets from the bulbs which 
should be planted in March, in drills eighteen inches apart. 
Set them three inches below the surface, and six inches apart. 
Keep the ground well stirred, but do not earth up the plants. 
They may be lifted by the top as they ripen, which will be 
shown by the drooping and withering of the leaves. In this 
climate they generally ripen in August. They are milder in 
flavor than those raised from the seed, but the bulbs are not so 
large. 

4. The Shallot — Allium Ascalonieum. 

This plant — Veschalote of the French — was introduced into 



94 The Garden. 

Europe from the town of Ascalon, in Syria. It is little used 
in this country, except hy the French, hut is to he preferred 
to the onion for some of the purposes of cookery. It is propa 
gated hy offsets, which may be planted in the spring, like the 
sets of the onion. Store in the same way as other onions. 

5. The Leek — Allium Porrum. 

The leek (Fr. porreau) is cultivated in France to an almost 
incredible extent, as it forms an absolutely essential ingredient 
of the soup on which the great body of the nation lives. The 
London Flag and the Musselburgh are improved varieties of 
the common leek. 

The soil for the leek must be rich, deep, and well worked. 
The manure used must be well decomposed. Sow the seed 
thinly, in drills six inches apart and half an inch deep. Thin 
out the plants to an inch apart. When about eight inches 
high, transplant them into a bed previously prepared for them. 
Shorten the roots to about an inch from the plant, and cut off 
two inches or more from the extremity of the leaves. Dibble 
them in drills eight inches apart, and so deeply as the plant 
will admit, without covering the young leaves pushing from its 
center. Choose moist or cloudy weather for the operation ; or, 
if dry, give the plants a copious watering. Hoe frequently, 
drawing the earth about the plants as they grow. They will 
be fit for use in October. The whole plant is much used in 
soups and stews, but the most delicate part is the blanched 



6. The Gaelic — Allium Sativum. 
The garlic is much used in southern Europe in sauces and 
salads ; but its unpleasant odor will, we suspect, debar it from 
American tables almost entirely. The bulb is divisible into 
numerous parts called " cloves," by means of which it is propa- 
gated. Plant in the spring, in drills two inches deep and six 
inches apart. "When the bulbs are grown, take their .ip, clean 
them, and hang up in bundles. A very slight flavor of garlio 
is not unpleasant in soups and stews. 



The Kitchen Garden. 9S 

?. The Chive — Allium Schcenoprasum. 
This little alliaceous plant is sometimes used as a spring 
salad, or a seasoning for soups. It is easily propagated by 
dividing the bulbs or roots either in autumn or spring, and 
planting them in any bed or border. It will grow anywhere, 
but prefers a moist, rich soil. It is generally spoken of in the 
plural as chives or cives. 

VH.— SALAD PLANTS. 
1. Lettuce — Lactuca Sativa. 

The lettuce is appropriately placed at the head cf the list 
of modern salad plants. There are two grand varieties of the 
lettuce — the Cabbage and the Cos or Upright — and numerous 
sub-varieties of each. The best of the cabbage sorts are the 
Early White Spring, White Gotte, Early Simpson, Summer 
Cabbage, Green Curled, Green Winter Cabbage, White Silesian, 
Ice Cabbage, India, Versailles and Victoria. The last will make 
good heads most of the summer. Of the Cos or Upright sorts 
the best are the White and the Green Paris. 

A deep, rich, sandy loam suits the lettuce plant. Salt and 
ashes are useful as special manures. Sow as early as the sea- 
son will permit, and repeat at different times during the spring 
and summer. For forcing in a hot-bed, the Early Cabbage 
should be chosen. For a winter crop, the Brown Dutch may 
be treated as we have recommended for Early York and Non- 
pareil cabbages. In the South it will need no protection. 

The Cos lettuce must be sowed in September, protected 
during the winter, and transplanted out in the spring ; or sowed 
in a hot-bed in February. The Cos varieties are improved by 
tying up the leaves several days before cutting, to blanch them. 

Lettuce may be had through the winter, by sowing in Octo- 
ber in a walled pit or frame, and protecting from frost by 
means of sash and straw mats, giving it air in warm, clear 
days. The earth should be within eight inches of the glass. 
Let the plants stand eight or ten inches apart. Water occa- 
sionally, and pick off all decayed leaves. It is a good precau- 



96 The Garden. 

tion to surround the frame or pit with leaves or straw. Lett? re 
requires frequent and deep hoeings. 

2. Ceess — Lepidum Sativum. 

Of the garden cress there are two varieties — the Curled or 
Pepper-Grass and the Broad-Leafed. The former is generally 
preferred. It forms an excellent salad, and is easily cultivated. 
To have it early, sow in a hot-bed in February. In the open 
ground it may to sowed about the last of March. The soil 
should be light and warm for the first sowing. Sow in shallow 
drills, covering the seed very lightly. To have it during the 
season, sow every fortnight. It should grow rapidly, and be 
used when quite young and crisp. 

"Water-cress is found in brooks, in various parts of the United 
States, but is seldom cultivated. It also is excellent for a salad. 

3. Mustaed — Sinapis Alba. 

This salad plant is cultivated in the same manner as cress. 
Cut the leaves for use while they are crisp and tender. "Wash 
them carefully in water to free them from the sand that ia 
liable to adhere to them. To have a constant supply, make 
frequent sowings. Table mustard is made from the seeds of 
Sinapis nigra. 

4. Endive — Cichorium Endiva. 

This plant is a native of China and Japan, and is much cul« 
tivated in Europe. The variety generally used for salads is the 
Green Curled. The Broad-Leaved or Batavian is used for 
cooking, in stews and soups. 

A light, rich soil is desirable for the endive. An open expo- 
sure should also be chosen. The best time to sow for an early 
crop is about the first of July in this climate. If sowed ear- 
lier, it is apt to run quickly to seed. In New England, how- 
ever, it may be sowed by the middle of June. In the South, 
White says, sow in August and September. Sow in drills 
about four inches deep, and about a foot apart, and scatter suf- 
ficient earth upon the seeds to cover them, leaving the drills 



The Kitchen Garden. 97 

to be filled up in the process of future cultivation. "Water 
once or twice, if the weather be dry. When about two inches 
high, thin out the plants to ten inches apart ; and when nearly 
full grown, the leaves may be gathered up in a close, rounded 
form, and tied with a shred of matting or other soft string, 
drawing up a little earth to the stems at the same time. 
Choose a dry day for this operation, and tie up only a few 
plants at a time, or in proportion as they may be wanted for 
use. They may also be blanched by covering them with pots 
or boxes. It will take about ten days in warm weather, and 
about twenty in cold weather, for the leaves to blanch for use. 
For late crops, sow about the end of July. To have endive 
in perfection during the winter, it must be moved into frames 
or walled pits about the first of November, taking up consider- 
able earth with the roots. Give air and light in mild weather, 
but protect from heavy rains and severe frosts. 

5. Oeleet — Apium GraveoUns. 

Celery is a native of Great Britain, and in its wild state is a 
coarse, rank weed. Cultivation has made it one of the pleas- 
antest-flavored of all salad plants. There are several varieties. 
The Eed Solid is the hardiest, and is therefore generally pre- 
ferred in the colder portions of our country; but the White 
Solid is crisper and more delicately flavored. Cole's Superb 
Eed, Laing's Improved Mammoth Eed, Seymour's Superb White, 
Boston Market and Turkey or Prussian are the kinds to be preferred 

The soil best suited to the celery plant is a moist, rich vege- 
table mold, to which salt, ashes, and lime may be advantage- 
ously added, as special manures. The animal manures used 
must be thoroughly decomposed. The cultivation of celery 
embraces three distinct operations : 

1. Forwarding the Plants. — Sow in a hot-bed from the first 
to the middle of March, or in a warm border in the open 
ground, at several different times, from the first of April to the 
tenth of May. The seed-beds should be of light and finely- 
pn.verized soil. Eake in the seeds lightly and regularly, and 
5 



98 The Garden. 

in dry weather water moderately, both before and after gercnl 
nation. Liquid manures are very beneficial. Thin out the 
plants to half an inch apart. 

2. Stocking or Hardening. — When the plants are two or 
three inches high, prick them out, at successive times, into 
intermediate beds, three or four inches asunder, watering if 
the weather be dry, and protecting from frost with boards or 
mats, if necessary. This intermediate bed should be made 
very rich with well-rotted manure. The plants that remain 
in the seed-bed should be shortened by cutting off their tops 
occasionally, to make them grow more stout, and watered fre- 
quently. Of the transplanted ones, those intended for late 
celery should also be cut off nearly to the crown several times, 
which will retard them and make them grow stout. "When the 
plants are from six to twelve inches high, they must be trans- 
planted into trenches previously prepared for them. 

3. Trench Culture. — It is well to trench the compartment 
of the garden intended for the permanent culture of celery, as 
this process turns the richest soil to the bottom where it will 
be most needed for the nurture of the plant. In ground thus 
prepared, or at least deeply spaded or plowed, mark out the 
trenches a foot wide, and from three to three and a half feet 
apart ; dig out each trench lengthwise, ten or twelve inches in 
width, and a light spit deep, that is, six or eight inches. Lay 
the earth dug out equally on each side of the trench ; put at 
least four inches of very rotten dung into the trench, then pare 
the sides, and dig the dung and parings with several inches of 
the loose mold at the bottom. A pint of salt to every fifty 
feet of trench, thoroughly mingled with the soil, is recom- 
mended by some, and must, we think, prove beneficial. Trim 
the tops and roots of the plants, and then set them in single 
rows along the middle of each trench, allowing four or five 
inches distance from plant to plant. "When this work is fin- 
ished, give the plants water in plenty, and occasionally water 
them from time to time, if the weather be dry, and likewise 
let them be shaded, till they strike root and begin to grow* 



The Kitchen Garden. 99 

Their after-culture oonsists in stirring the soil in the trench 
frequently with a small hoe, and watering copiously in dry 
weather. About the middle of August or the first of Septem- 
ber, you may begin to earth up your plants for blanching. Tie 
the leaves together, or hold them tight with one hand, while 
you draw the earth, which must have been finely pulverized 
with the spade, around the stems, being careful not to cover 
the heart or center of the plant. You may now repeat this 
operation once in ten days, till the plants are fit for use ; but 
this earthing-up must never be done when the plants are in the 
least wet. About the first of October earth up firmly and 
evenly, and with a decided slope from the base, nearly to the 
tops of the leaves. To take up the crop, it is best to begin at 
one end of a row, and dig clean down to the roots, which then 
loosen with a spade, and they may be drawn up entire, without 
breaking the stalks. 

To preserve this plant during the winter, on the approach of 
frost take up a part of the crop, and lay it under sand for win- 
ter use. That left in the beds may be covered with litter, to 
be removed in mild weather. In planting, the white and red 
sorts may conveniently be mixed in the same trench, so that 
only one trench need be opened to obtain both. 

6. The Eadish — Raphanus Sativus. 

The radish (Fr. rave, Ger. rittg) is a native of China. Of 
the numerous varieties, the Scarlet Short Top is the earliest 
and best. The Early Salmon, Eed Turnip-Booted, White Tur- 
nip-Kooted, White Summer, and Yellow Summer are all 
desirable sorts. For supplying the table in winter, the Black 
Spanish should be chosen. 

Any deep, rich soil, well broken up, will do for the radish, 
but for early crops it is desirable to have it light, dry, and 
warm. Sow as early as the weather will permit, and for a 
continued supply repeat your sowings about once in two weeks 
through the season. The Black Spanish may be stored in the 
sellar, and will keep till spring. 



100 The Garden. 

7. Hoese Radish — Cochlearia Armor acia. 

The horse-radish grows best in a rich, moist soil, contiguous 
to water, hut may be cultivated in almost any situation. It is 
propagated by sets from the root, which may be dropped intc 
holes made with a dibble fifteen inches deep, in soil previously 
trenched or deeply spaded. Fill up the holes with fine earth. 
The plants should stand about ten inches apart. It may be 
planted either in spring or in November. In taking up the 
roots for use, you may leave a small portion at the bottom to 
eerve as a new set. In the fall, lift enough for winter use, and 
leave the rest in the ground. It is an excellent condiment. 
The root is scraped into shreds, or grated fine, and eaten with 
vinegar. 

8. Ooen Salad-— i^ia. Olitoria. 

This plant, sometimes called lamb's lettuce, is a native ol 
Europe. It is in use to some extent as a spring salad. Sow 
from the tenth to the twentieth of September, in shallow drills 
six inches apart, and cover lightly, pressing the soil with a 
roller or a board. Keep it clear of weeds, and in November 
cover with straw, and pick the leaves as wanted. If the win- 
ter prove mild, it may be in use the whole season. 

VIII.— THE CUCUMBER FAMILY 

1. The Cttoumbek — Cucumis Sativus. 

The cucumber is found wild in almost all warm countries, 
and is cultivated all over the world. The best varieties for 
forcing, or for an early crop in the open air, are the Russian 
and the Early Frame. London Long Green, Long Green Tur- 
key, White Spined and Underwood's Short Prickley are good 
for the main crop. The White Spined is one of the best for table 
use, and Underwood's Short Prickly for pickling. The Gherkin, 
a French variety, is also much prized for the latter purpose. 

A light loam is best for the cucumber, but it will grow in 
almost any soil, and is very easily cultivated. Make excava- 
tions for your hills a foot in diameter and fifteen inches deep, 



The Kitchen Garden. 101 

at the distance of six feet apart each way. Fill these holes 
with a rich mixture of well decayed manure and light soil, 
adding, if convenient, a little ashes, hone-dust, and common 
salt. Eaise the hills a little ahove the level of the ground, hy 
covering the manure mixture with loam, and make them 
slightly concave on the top. Plant ahout the first of May, or 
so soon as the season will admit, putting eight or ten seeds in a 
bill. "Fhen the plants have made rough leaves, thin them out 
to three in a hill. Nipping off the points of the vines to make 
them branch out will hasten their fruiting. Stir the ground 
frequently, and keep it free from weeds. 

By forcing in hot-beds, cucumbers may be had in March or 
April ; but few except professional gardeners care to undertake 
the somewhat delicate operation. They may be much for- 
warded, however, with little trouble, by the use of small boxes 
covered with glass, or by the following method : 

Make a hole, and put into it a little hot dung ; let the hole 
be under a warm fence. Put six inches deep of fine rich earth 
on the dung. Sow a parcel of seeds in this earth, and cover at 
night with a bit of carpet or sail-cloth, having first fixed some 
hoops over this little bed. Before the plants show the rough 
leaf, plant two into a little flower-pot, and fill as many pots in 
this way as you please. Have a larger bed ready to put the 
pots into, and covered with earth, so that the pots may be 
plunged in the earth up to their tops. Cover this bed like the 
last. "When the plants have got two rough leaves out, they 
will begin to make a shoot in the middle. Pinch that short off. 
Let them stand in this bed till your cucumbers sown in the 
natural ground come up ; then make some little holes in good, 
rich land, and, taking a pot at a time, turn out the ball, and fix 
it in the hole. These plants will bear a month sooner than 
those sown in the natural ground. 

The second week in July is sufficiently early to plant for the 
fad and pickling crop, in the Northern States. In the South, 
the late planted crops are apt to be destroyed by the melon* 
worm. 



102 The Garden. 

Cucumber plants being climbers by means of tbeir tendrils, 
some braachy sticks being placed to any advancing runners, 
tbey will ascend, and produce fruit at a distance from the 
ground, of a clean growth, free from spots, and well flavored. 

2. The Melon — Cucumis Melo. 

The melon is a tropical plant. Our finest varieties are sup- 
posed to have come from Persia and Afghanistan. In the 
south of Europe it is much used as an article of food by the 
lower classes. This use may be made of it with advantage by 
all classes in every country where it can be produced. Its 
varieties are numerous and constantly increasing. The com- 
mon mush-melon, formerly so extensively cultivated, has gen- 
erally given way to newer and better sorts, among which the 
Green Citron, Monroe's Green Flesh, Nutmeg, Christina (very 
early), White Japan, Prescott Cantaloup, (a French variety, 
Orange Cantaloup, Pine Apple and Skillman's Fine Netted are 
much esteemed [For the water-melon which belongs to a 
different genus of the same natural order, see the next section.] 

The melon should have the same soil and culture as the 
cucumber (except that it requires less moisture), and may be 
forced in a hot-bed, or forwarded by means of the glass-covered 
"boxes in the same way. Never allow more than three plants 
to grow in a hill. Three will produce more fruit than six. As 
the fruit appears and attains the size of a walnut, place under 
each a piece of tile, slate, or glass to protect it from the damp- 
ness of the earth, and assist it in ripening by reflecting the rays 
of the sun. 

IX.— THE PUMPKIN FAMILY. 

1. The Pumpkin — CucurMta Pepo. 
The pumpkin is a native of India and the Levant. Numer- 
ous varieties are cultivated, some of which, originated by 
means of crossings with the squash, can hardly be distinguished 
from that vegetable. The Cashaw and Large Cheese are the 
best that we have tested. The Valparaiso is said to be a good 



The Kitchen Garden. 103 

variety ; and the Honolulu, from the Sandwich Islands, and the 
Gitronelle de Touraine, from France, are new varieties which 
we would recommend for trial. 

The pumpkin will grow anywhere, and with almost any 
treatment. The culture indicated is the same as that for the 
melon or the cucumber. It should never he planted in a gar- 
den, if one has other ground in which it can be cultivated, as 
it will he sure to mix with and contaminate the squashes, 
melons, and cucumhers. New England farmers often raise a 
large crop by planting it with their field corn. 

2. The Squash — Cucurbita Helo pepo. 

This plant forms the connecting link between the pumpkin 
and the melon. It originated in the Levant. The best summer 
varieties are the Early Bush Scalloped, and the early Bush 
Crooknecked. Of fall and winter sorts the Boston Marrow 
is the best that has had a fair trial in various soils and climates. 
It is difficult now, however, to obtain it pure. The Hubbard, 
Custard, Green Striped Bergen, Egg-shaped, Turban, Honolulu, 
Mammoth and Yokohama are more recent and esteemed varie- 
ties; the Hubbard in particular being deservedly popular. 

The soil and cultivation required are the same as for pump- 
kins, melons, and cucumbers. 

3. Vegetable Maeeow — Cucurlita Succada. 

This is a species of gourd. It is cooked like the egg-plant 
when young ; when half grown is used as squash ; and when 
matured is used for pies. Cultivated the same as the squash. 

4. The "Water Melon — Oucurkita Citwullus. 

The water-melon belongs to the same natural family or order 
as the musk-melon or cantaloup, but to a different genus or 
subdivision. It is a native of the tropics. The best varieties 
are the Black Spanish, the "White Spanish, the Orange, the 
Mountain Sweet, the Carolina, the Texas, the Sugar White, 
the Syrian, and the Lawson. The Texas, the Sugar White 



104: The Garden. 

(sometimes called Ice Cream), and the Syrian are all new 
varieties — new to us, at least. We have tested only the Texas, 
which is a superior sort. 

The best soil for the water-melon is a light, sandy loam. 
Anima* manures, well decomposed, bone-dust, and super-phos- 
phate of lime should be used in moderate quantities. Cultivate 
the same as mush-melons or cucumbers. If grown near any 
other melon, squash, pumpkin, or cucumber, you can not be 
sure of pure seeds ; and the same remarks will apply to the 
other members of the pumpkin and cucumber families. 

X.— MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS OF CULTIVATION. 

1. Indian Coen — Zea Mays. 

Every garden should have a few rows of Indian corn. The 
best garden sorts are the Extra Early and Eight-Rowed Sweet. 
New varieties, however, are constantly being produced. 

To produce a good crop, Indian corn requires a good soil, 
and there need be no fear of giving it too much manure. A 
handful of ashes in each hill will benefit the crop. Plant in 
hills three feet apart, dropping five or six seeds in a hill, but 
thinning out to three or four at the first hoeing. If sufficient 
manure have not been mixed with the soil on plowing or dig- 
ging, put a small shovelful in each hill. Plant so soon as the 
season will permit, and make successive plantings till August, 
if you desire a continuous supply. Hoe frequently, making 
broad, flat hills in earthing up the plants. Never plant more 
than one kind of corn in the same garden at one time, as it 
will mix and deteriorate. Change your seed every two or 
three years, getting it, if possible, from a more northern lati- 
tude. 

2. The Tomato — Solarium Lycoperskum. 

This plant belongs to the same family .is the potato, and, 
like that vegetable, is almost universally esteemed and culti- 
vated. It is a native of South America. There are several 
sorts- -yellow and red. The Large Smooth Red and the Pear- 



The Kitchen Garden. 105 

Shaped are the best for table use ; but the Large Eed, a scol- 
loped or indented variety, is preferred for marketing, as it 
grows much larger. The Large Yellow differs in flavor from 
the Eed, and is preferred by some. It comes into use some- 
what earlier than the other sorts. It is much used for pre- 
serves. The Eed Cherry-Shaped and the Yellow Cherry- 
Shaped are beautiful varieties, much used for pickling and 
preserving. 

A light, loamy, and moderately rich soil is best for the 
tomato. To have early tomatoes, the plants must be started 
in hot-beds in March. Sow the seeds thinly, or thin out the 
plants soon after they come up. As they advance in growth, 
they may be transplanted into a cold frame or walled pit, pro- 
tected by glass, where they may stand three inches apart to 
harden for final transplanting into the open air ; or they may 
remain in the hot-bed till settled warm weather — from the 
middle to the end of May in this latitude — when they may be 
planted out into a warm, sheltered situation in the open air. 

Those who have no hot-bed or pit may very easily forward 
a few plants in a large pot or box of rich earth placed in the 
kitchen window, sowing the seeds in it from the middle of 
March to the first of April. Two or three weeks may be 
gained in this way over those planted in the open air. 

For early tomatoes, we form conical hills, a foot or more in 
height, and three feet apart, with a little well-rotted manure 
in the center. Into a little crater-like excavation in the sum- 
mits of these hills we set the plants, which should be taken up 
with a trowel in such a way as not to check their growth. A 
still better way is to sow the seeds in small pots, and in trans- 
planting to transfer the whole ball of earth from the pot to the 
hill. The advantage of the elevated hills is, that the earth 
around the roots is more readily and thoroughly warmed by 
the heat of the sun. For a late crop, or for a hot, dry climate, 
this plan is not to be recommended. 

In the South a plenty of tomatoes may be raised from self- 
sown seed, which will spring up in the garder, and require 
5* 



106 The Garden. 

little care ; but if they are wanted earlier, the plants may be 
forwarded in a frame, or glass-covered boxes, sowing in Febru- 
ary or the first of March, and transplanting when the frosts 
are over. 

The earliest tomato plants should be shortened by taking off 
a few inches of their tops, so soon as they have set their first 
fruit, which will cause it to ripen more rapidly. Stir the soil 
frequently, and keep it free from weeds. Support the plants 
with branches or a little trellis, as you would peas, to keep the 
fruit from the ground. The plants, too, when supported, run 
less to vines, and are much more fruitful. One dozen plants 
properly supported will yield more and better fruit than three 
times that number will when allowed to rest on the ground. 

3. The Egg Plant — Solarium Melongena. 

This plant also, as may be seen by its botanical name, belongs 
to the potato family. It is a native of Africa. One of its 
varieties bears a white fruit resembling an egg, whence its 
name ; but the purple varieties only are used in cookery. Of 
these the Large Prickley Purple produces the largest fruit, but 
the Long Purple is superior in flavor, and should be preferred 
for family use. They may be cultivated in the same way as 
tomatoes, but are rather more sensitive and tender. They may 
be sowed in April or the first of May in the open air, selecting 
a warm border, with a southern exposure. 

The fruit is fit for use when two or three inches in diameter, 
and continues so till the seeds begin to change color. It is cut 
in thin slices, and fried, and is also sometimes used in stews and 
soups. 

4. The Strawrerry Tomato — Physalis Edulis. 
This is a newly -introduced annual plant, producing fruit of the 
Bize of a cherry. It is excellent eaten raw, made into pies or 
simply stewed. We ha*e tried it and esteem it highly. It is 
cultivated the same as the tomato. 



The Kitchen Gakdei. 107 

5. The Peppee — Capsicum Annum. 
The jjepper is a tropical plant, but may easily be matured in 
ijie open air in tbis climate. It is better, bowever, to start the 
plants in a hot-bed, if practicable, and transplant in May or 
June. A warm situation and a light, rich soil suit it best. 
The plants should stand in rows eighteen inches apart, and a 
foot apart in the rows. Earth them up a little in cultivation. 
The Bell or Sweet is the best for pickling. The Cayenne is 
more used in its ripe state as a seasoning. 

6. Okea — Hibiscus Esculentus. 
This vegetable, which belongs to the natural family of the 
cotton plant, was introduced from the West Indies, and is much 
cultivated in the Southern States, It is often called gumbo 
(Fr. gombo), and is used as an ingredient in stews and soups. 
It is cultivated to a considerable extent in New Jersey, and 
may be produced still farther north. A light, dry soil is best 
suited to it. Plant in drills three feet apart, scattering the 
seeds sparsely, and thin out to eighteen inches apart in the 
drill. It requires careful culture in a northern climate. Hoe 
very frequently, and keep the ground free from weeds. The 
pods must be gathered while quite green and tender. They 
may be cut into thin slices and dried for winter use. 

1. Rhubaeb — Rheum Rhaponticum. 

Rhubarb, sometimes called pie-plant, although it has been 
cultivated to a small extent for centuries, and used for medic- 
inal purposes, has not till quite recently been popularly appre- 
ciated. It certainly deserves a place in every garden. It is a 
native of Asia. Myatt's Victoria, Myatt's Linngeus, Buist's 
Early Eed, and Downing's Colossal are all excellent varieties. 

The soil for rhubarb should be a light loam, rich, and moder- 
ately moist. Bone-dust and guano are excellent special ma- 
nures for it. 

Rhubarb is propagated either by seeds or by division of the 
roots The latter is, in ordinary cases, the preferable method. 



108 The Garden. 

From ten to twenty plants will be sufficient for a moderate 
family, and these may be bad by dividing one or two good 
roots, leaving an eye on each set. The ground should be pre- 
pared in October, by spading it at least eighteen inches deep, 
digging in a large quantity of well-rotted manure, and breaking 
it up thoroughly in the process. Allow it to settle, and then 
plant out your sets two feet apart in the row, and four feet 
between the rows. The crowns or eyes of the sets should be 
about two inches below the surface, and should be immediately 
covered with four or five inches of litter, leaves, or straw, to 
prevent the frost from throwing them out during the winter. 
In this way a crop may be obtained the first year after plant- 
ing. The only after-culture required is to cover the ground 
with a few inches of manure every fall, digging it in with a 
fork in the spring, and keeping the ground free from weeds. 
If you wish to raise it from the seed, sow in the spring, trans- 
plant in the fall, and treat as just directed. You will get new 
varieties. It will be ready for the table in three years. 

To make the edible leaf-stems of your rhubarb grow long 
and tender, place barrels, pots, boxes, and so forth over them 
when they begin to grow in the spring ; but the air and light 
should not be entirely excluded, unless you wish to obtain a 
very mild flavor. 

Bhubarb may easily be forced by inverting boxes, pots, 01 
half barrels over the plants in the autumn, and afterward cov- 
ering the whole with leaves and hot stable manure. The 
boxes, etc., should be placed over the plants before the ground 
shall be frozen, covering the ground with eight or ten inches 
of litter. The mixture of leaves and manure may be applied 
about the middle of January or the first of February. By 
merely covering your plants with six or eight inches of litter, 
leaves, or almost any dry material, you may fc v ward them from 
seven to ten days, without further trouble. 

To gather, remove a little earth, and, bending down the leal 
you would remove, slip it off from the crown without breaking 
or using the knife. The stalks are fit to use when the leaf u 



The Kitchen Gaede*. 109 

half expanded. A larger, but inferior produce is obtained by 
letting them remain till in full expansion, as is practiced by the 
market-gardeners. 

For use, peel the stem, and cut it into thin slices, and pre* 
pare as you would apples, for pies, tarts, or sauce. The 
English gardeners say, however, that it should be grown so 
quickly and be so tender as to require no peeling. 

8. Paeslet — Apium Petroselinum. 
Parsley is but little cultivated in this country, and is princi- 
pally used for garnishing. It is a native of Sardinia. The 
curled variety is most worthy of cultivation. Sow in April, 
in drills half an inch deep. It may form an edging around 
beds, borders, or compartments. Prom the long time the seed 
lies in the ground without germinating, it has been said that it 
goes nine times to the devil and back before it comes up! 
These journeys require ordinarily a month or more ; but by 
soaking the seed twenty-four hours before sowing, the process 
is somewhat hastened. When the plants are three or four 
inches high, thin them out to six inches apart. "With a little 
protection, it will grow all winter in this climate. It is 
esteemed by many as a seasoning for stews and soups. 

XL— SWEET HEEBS, ETO. 

Of the sweet herbs and medicinal plants more or less culti- 
vated in gardens, a brief mention may properly be here made. 
They are generally planted in borders, and, to secure their 
peculiar virtues in perfection , should not be manured. Com- 
mon garden soil is sufficiently rich for most of them. As a 
general rule, they are gathered when in bloom, and carefully 
dried in the shade. 

1. Shrubby Plants. — Sage {Salvia officinalis) ; Winter 
&a,Yory(Saturica montana) ; Eosemary (Rosmarius officinalis) ; 
Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) ; Eue (Ruta graveolens) ; Wormwood 
(Artimesia absinthium) ; Southernwood (Artiraesia abrota- 
num) ; Lavendei (Lavandula spica) ; Hyssop, Hyssopus (offici 



110 The Garden. 

nalis). The foregoing are all propagated by dividing the roots 
or by cuttings, and require little cultivation. 

2. Perennial Herbaceous Plants. — Peppermint {Mentha 
piperita); Spearmint {Mentha viridis); Pennyroyal {Mentha 
fulegium); Balm {Melissa officinalis); Tansy {Tanacetum vul- 
garis) ; Burnet {Poterium sanguisorba) ; Chamomile {Anthemu 
nobilis) ; Elecampane {Iluna helinium) ; Fennel {Anethum 
fmniculum) ; Thoroughwort or Boneset {Eupatorium perfolia- 
tum) ; Liquorice {Glycirrhiza glabra). These are all increased 
by parting the roots. 

3. Biennial and Annual Plants. — Caraway {Carum carnt) ; 
Coriander {Coriandrum sativum); Dill {Anethum graveolens) ; 
Anise {Pimpinella anisum); Sweet Marjoram {Origanum ma- 
jorana); Summer Savory {Saturega hortensis); Sweet Basil 
{Ocimum basilicum); Bush Basil {Ocimum minimum); Angelica 
{Angelica archangelica); Borage {Borago officinalis); Hore- 
hound {Marrubium vulgare). All propagated by sowing th* 
seed* 



The Fkuit Garden. Ill 



VII. 

THE FRUIT GARDEN. 

Bat lorwava (» the name of God, graffe, Bet, plant, and nourlBh »p trees in every corter of 
your grinds, tno latwur is small, the cost is nothing, the commoditie is great, yourselves 
•hall have plenty, the poore shall have somewhat in time of want to relieve their necessitie, 
•nd God shall reward your good mindes and diligence.— Gerarde. 

I.— A HINT OB TWO. 

HE lamented Downing says : " He who owns 
a rood of proper land in this country, and, 
in the face of the pomonal riches of the 
day, raises only crabs and choke-pears, 
deserves to lose the respect of all sensible 
men. Yet there are many in utter igno- 
rance of most of the delicious fruits of modern days — 
who seem to live under some ban of expulsion from 
all the fair and goodly productions of the garden." 

Such persons are still to be found, but their number 
is rapidly decreasing ; and there are few who will not 
thoughtfully heed the quaint exhortation which we have chosen 
for the motto of this chapter. 

After what we have said in our third and fifth chapters 
(which see), but few introductory hints will here be necessary. 
Let it be remembered that the plot set apart for the fruit gar- 
den should be thoroughly prepared before you commence 
planting ; that the soil should be very deep (not less than two 
feet), and thoroughly broken up ; that it must be moderately 
rich ; that it should be well drained if the nature of the soil 
require it, and that a careful attention to the directions we 
have given under the heads of transplanting, budding, grafting, 
pruning, etc., are essential to success. Specific directions, 
when necessary, will be given under the name of each specie*. 




112 The Garden. 

The best manure for fruit-trees in general is composed of 
about equal parts of meadow mud, muck, or peaty earth, and 
common stable manure. A small quantity of wood-ashes, say 
four bushels to a cart-load of manure, and charcoal-dust in 
about the same ratio, may be intermixed with this composition 
to great advantage. This manure should be prepared and well 
worked over several months before using. Half a peck of 
bone-dust and a little lime, well mixed with the soil when set- 
ting the tree, or from a peck to a bushel of old broken bones, 
put into the bottom of the hole before setting, will be of great 
benefit for years. The general manuring of a fruit garden 
should be performed in autumn ; and the holes for setting out 
the trees in the spring may be dug and filled with compost and 
earth at the same time with decided advantage. Kotted chips 
make an excellent manure for fruit-trees, and may be applied 
either in the holes or as a top-dressing. 

Having set out your trees properly in well-prepared ground, 
the work is rightly begun — that is all. If you stop here, you 
might as well have never commenced — nay, better ; for in that 
case you would have saved the cost of the trees and the labor 
of preparing the soil. 

After your trees are planted, it is absolutely essential that 
the ground around them shall be kept loose and mellow by culti- 
vation. Cultivate potatoes or some other low-growing crop 
between the rows of trees, keeping an area of more than the 
diameter of the head around each tree clear from both the 
crop and the weeds. So far as the tree's roots extend, the 
ground belongs to them, but it mast be kept well stirred. 

Newly transplanted trees sometimes, especially if the season 
be uncommonly dry, require watering; but a little water 
poured on the surface never reaches the roots, and, by causing 
the ground to bake, does more harm than good. To produce 
the desired result, take off a few inches of the surface above 
the roots, apply the water, and then replace the earth. 

Mulching is exceedingly beneficial to young fruit-trees. A 
luflScient quantity of straw, litter, leaves, or tan-bark applied 



The Fkuit Gaeden. 113 

In a circle covering the whole area of the roots will tend to 
retain the moisture, and render watering, in ordinary cases, 
unnecessary. In winter, where the climate is severe, it is still 
more useful, and often saves young trees from entire destruc- 
tion hy frost. A small space immediately ahout the trunk may 
he left uncovered, as it might harbor mice. 

Every spring, wash the hodies of your young trees with «joft 
soap, or one of the following preparations : 

1. Dissolve one pound of potash in two gallons and one 
half of water, and then apply with a flat varnish-brush to the 
limhs and trunks of the trees. A varnish-hrush is hest, as the 
bristles are held together by tin hands on them, and not tied 
together with strings, as paint-brushes are, which the potash 
soon cuts through, and the brush falls to pieces. 

2. Mix fresh cow-dung with urine and soap-suds, and with 
the mixture wash over the stems and branches of the trees as 
you would your room with whitewash, first cutting off the 
cankery parts, and scraping the moss and rough bark off the 
trunks of the trees before applying it. This is particularly 
applicable to large and old trees. It will destroy the eggs of 
insects, and prevent moss growing on the trunks. 

The following, it is said, will prevent rabbits [and probably 
mice] from girdling fruit-trees : 

Make a solution of, say half a pound of tobacco to three 
gallons of water. Mix with clay, a little lime, a little fresh 
cow-dung, and an ounce or two of glue or paste. Thicken to 
the consistency of thick whitewash, and put on with a brush. 

The following is Bridgeman's recipe for causing trees to 
thrive : 

" The ground where they are planted must be kept well cul- 
tivated. Young trees will not thrive if the grass be permitted 
to form a sod around them ; and if it should be necessary to plant 
them in grass grounds, care must be taken to keep the earth 
mellow and free from grass for three or four feet distant around 
them, and every autumn some well-rotted manure should be 
dug in around each tree, and every spring the bodies of th« 



114: The Garden. 

trees washed or brushed over with common soft-soap, undiluted 
with water. This treatment will give a thriftiness to the trees, 
surpassing the expectation of any one who has not witnessed 
its effect." 

II. POMA.CEOUS FKUITS. 

1. The Apple — Pyrus Mains. 

All the varieties of the apple cultivated in this country have 
originated from the small, acid crab-apple of Europe. When 
cultivated with the same care and skill, it seems to succeed 
even better here than in its native localities. It is well worthy 
to stand at the head of all the fruits of temperate climates. 

The apple-tree requires so much room that, in an ordinary 
garden, we must confine ourselves to a small number. The 
choice of our varieties, then, becomes an important affair, 
and, we may add, a difficult one. 1. In the first place, the 
varieties are very numerous, being numbered by thousands ; 
2. Sorts which are considered " best " in one section of our 
widely extended country, often prove inferior or worthless in 
another; 3. Soil, seasons, and modes of cultivation modify 
them greatly in the same climate ; 4. Many new and appa- 
rently excellent varieties have not yet been sufficiently tested 
in reference to their adaptation to general cultivation ; 5. 
Tastes differ widely in reference to flavors ; 6. Some sorts aro 
known by from three to twenty different names — every neigh- 
borhood, almost, having its local appellation for them. The 
reader must make the necessary allowances, as the circum- 
stances of his locality, soil, and climate, and his own expe- 
rience and observation may dictate ; and none but the best 
should be allowed to occupy the limited space of a fruit gar- 
den. 

Apple-trees should be planted thirty feet apart each way. 
As special manure, lime and ashes are indicated. About half 
a peck of each, applied annually to each tree, will be useful. 

In common management, apple-trees in general bear only 
alternate years, which are called their bearing years ; but by 



The Fruit Garden. 115 

thinning out half the blossoms on the bearing year, you may 
easily have about an equal quantity of fruit every season. The 
bearing year may be entirely changed, by taking off all the 
blossoms or young fruit on that year, and allowing them to 
remain on the year which we wish to make the bearing one. 

To preserve winter apples, gather them carefully by hand 
on a dry day ; lay them gently by hand twelve or fourteen 
inches deep on the floor of a cool, dry room, and let them dry 
and season there for three weeks. Then carefully take them 
up, on a clear day, and pack them by hand in clean, dry bar- 
rels, filling the barrels so full that a gentle pressure will be 
necessary in order to head them up. 

Smaller quantities may be put up in common, tight, wooden 
buckets. The best place for keeping them is a dry, airy 
room or cellar, of which the temperature ranges from 35° to 
45° Fahr. 

Thomas recommends packing alternate layers of apples and 
dry chaff mixed with a small portion of dry, pulverized lime. 
Apples for exportation are often wrapped each one separately 
in clean, soft, coarse paper, like oranges, and then put up in 
boxes or barrels, as above directed. 

2. The Peak — Pyrus Communis. 

The pear is second only to the apple in general utility, and 
superior to that fruit in delicacy and flavor. The pear was 
cultivated so long ago as the earliest times of the Komans, 
but it is only in modern times that it has reached a high 
degree of those delicious qualities for which it is now so 
much esteemed. 

The best soil for the pear is a strong loam on a dry subsoil. 
It requires the same manure as the apple, with the addition 
of a larger quantity of ashes or potash in some other form. 
Set standard trees twenty feet apart each way ; dwarfs from 
ten to twelve. Give bearing trees a moderate top-dressing of 
manure every autumn. Pear-trees require comparatively little 
pruning. 



116 The Gakden. 

To dwarf the pear, it is grafted on Anger's quince stocks. 
The fruit produced by trees thus grafted is usually better than 
that of those on the pear stock. They also come into bearing 
sooner, and take up less room in the garden ; but they are not 
so long-lived as on the pear. Quince-bottomed pear-trees 
must be very carefully cultivated. They will not bear neglect. 
They should be headed-in more or less every year. 

Winter pears are all necessarily ripened in the house ; and 
nearly all summer pears, and a very large proportion of the 
autumn varieties, are greatly improved by ripening them in 
the house also. As a general rule, take summer and early 
autumn pears from the trees, just when some of the earlier 
full-grown specimens begin to ripen. Gather them carefully 
by hand on a dry day, spread them on the shelves of your 
fndt-voom, or upon the floor of a cool, dry chamber. Here 
they will ripen by degrees, and without further care. 

Late autumn and winter pears should also be gathered very 
carefully by hand, in dry weather. Put them away very care- 
fully, so as not to bruise or indent them in the least, in tight, 
clean wooden boxes, buckets, or barrels, and keep them in a 
cool, dry, airy room or cellar, of which the temperature shall 
he from about 38° to 45° Fahr. Examine them occasionally, 
and if they should be sweating, take them out carefully, and 
dry them on the floor, removing any that may have begun to 
decay, and re-packing them as before. About ten days before 
their usual time of ripening, bring them into a warm room. 
The result of this process will surprise, as well as gratify, one 
who has never tried it. 

3. The Quince — Cydonia Vulgaris. 

This tree is a native of Germany. It was cultivated, and 
its fruit much esteemed by the Greeks and Romans. It was 
used by them, as by the moderns, for preserving. 

The quince is easily propagated from seeds, layers, or cut- 
tings. A moist, strong soil suits the quince, as it grows natu- 
rally along the borders of streams. Set the trees ten feet 



The Fruit Garden. 117 

apart, and give them the same cultivation as the apple -and 
the pear. Little pruning is required, except to improve the 
form of the head. 

III. STONE FRUITS. 

1. The Peach — Per ska Vulgaris. 

The peach derives its name from Persia (It. persica, Fr. 
fleeter), from which country it originated. It is now culti- 
vated to a greater extent in the United States than in any- 
other country in the world. In its perfection, it does not 
yield the palm to any other fruit. A Seckel would hardly 
tempt us to lay aside a Rareripe. 

Set peach-trees about sixteen feet apart each way. Bone- 
dust and wood-ashes are the special manures most likely to 
be serviceable to them. 

The peach is somewhat dwarfed and rendered hardier in a 
northern climate by grafting on a plum stock. It requires 
but little pruning, except " shortening-in," which should be 
done early in the spring every year so long as the tree lives. 
Cut off half the last year's growth over the whole outside of 
the tree. This method will increase the size and value of the 
fruit, and cause the tree to live and continue in bearing seve- 
ral years longer than under the old system. 

Every one who cultivates peaches should preserve a quan- 
tity for winter use, either in air-tight cans or by drying. 

2. The Nectarine — Persica Vulgaris Lcevis. 

The nectarine is only a distinct accidental variety of the 
peach with a smooth skin. The well-known Boston Nectar- 
ine originated from a peach-stone. Soil, manure, and culture 
are the same as for the peach. It is a beautiful fruit, but, on 
account of its liability to be destroyed by the curcuHo, is lit- 
tle cultivated. Good crops are rare. 

3. The Apricot — Armeniaca Vulgaris. 

The apricot is native of central Asia, and is the most beau- 
tiful of all the stone fruits. It ripens about midsummer, or 



118 The Garden. 

immediately after the cherries. In this country it may be 
cultivated in the open air, in almost any locality south of 
Massachusetts. Like the nectarine, it is very liable to be de- 
stroyed by the curculio. Let the poultry or pigs have access 
to the trees when the fruit begins to drop. 

The apricot is generally budded on the plum stock. It 
should be placed on a north, east, or west aspect, and be pro- 
tected by a wall or fence. It requires no pruning. 

4. The Plum — Prunvs Domestica. 

Several varieties of the plum are found growing wild in 
this country, but the original parent of most of our culti- 
vated sorts is supposed to have been brought from Asia. 
The varieties are numerous. The Green Gage, an old Eng- 
lish plum, still keeps its place, in popular estimation, at the 
head of the list. 

The best soil for the plum is a strong loam on a dry sub- 
soil, but it will grow in any tolerably fertile soil. An annual 
top-dressing of common salt will be found very useful, not 
only promoting the growth of the tree, but driving away most 
of the insects to which it is liable. The tree should be set 
about sixteen feet apart each way. The great enemy of the 
plum is the curculio, against which you must wage a war of 
extermination. 

The plum is generally propagated by budding, but may be 
grafted with success, if the operation be skillfully and care- 
fully performed. Little pruning is necessary, except when the 
tree is young, to improve the form of the head. 

5. The Cherry — Cerasus Sylvestris et G. Vulgaris. 

The cherry was brought originally from Asia by the Roman 
general Lucullus, and has been in cultivation in Europe for 
more than eighteen hundred years. It was introduced into 
America on the first settlement of the country. 

All sorts of cherries are generally worked on Black Maz- 
zard stocks. They may be cither budded or grafted. Set the 




The Fruit Garden. 119 

trees from sixteen to twenty feet apart, and cultivate the same 
as the plum. 

6. The Olive — Olea Europea. 
The olive should be more widely cultivated in the Southern 
States. The seaboard States of the 
South are well adapted to its cul- 
ture. It will thrive farther north 
than the orange. It is a low ever- 
green tree, and commences bearing 
in five or six years after being 
planted. The oil is made by crush- 
ing the fruit to a paste, and pressing 
it through a coarse, hempen bag, 
into hot water, from the surface of 
which the oil is skimmed off. The 0UVB BEAH0H AKD FEUIT - 
common European olive is the best variety for general culti- 
vation. It is propagated by means of little knots or tumors, 
which form on the bark of the trunk, and are easily cut out 
with a penknife. 'These are planted in the soil like bulbs. 
It may also be propagated by cuttings or seeds. 

IV. — THE ORANGE FAMILY. 

1. The Orange — Citrus Aurantum. 
This delicious tropical fruit is successfully cultivated in Flor- 
ida, and to some extent in Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, South 
Carolina, and other Southern States. "With only slight pro- 
tection, it will succeed so far north as Baltimore. Of the 
sweet orange, which alone is worthy of garden cultivation, 
the best varieties are the Havana or Common Sweet, the Mal- 
tese, the Blood Red, the Mandarin, and the St. Michael. 

The orange requires a deep, rich loam. To procure stocks 
for budding with the sweet varieties, sow early in the spring 
the seeds of the wild, bitter orange of Florida. They may 
be budded the same or the next season. 

The great foe of the orange-tree is the scale insect (Coccus 



120 The Gabdbb. 

Hesperidum), but the common chamomile is found to be a 
specific against it. This herb, in bunches, hung on the 
branches of the trees, drives it away, and by cultivating the 
plant about the roots of the tree, it is protected against its 
attacks. 

2. The Lemon — Citrus Limonum. 
The lemon is cultivated like the orange. Besides the com- 
mon lemon, there is an Italian variety called the Sweet Lemon. 
The lime, the citron, and the shaddock belong to the same 
family, and are subject to the same culture. 

V. 2ERRIED FRUITS. 

1. The Grape — Vitis of species. 

The grape should undoubtedly head the list of berried 
fruits. It has been cultivated from the earliest ages, and in 
almost every country in the temperate zones. The varieties 
cultivated in Europe are all of one species ( Vitis vi/dfera), and 
originated in Asia. Our native grapes are of different species. 

The foreign grapes do not succeed in this country in open- 
air culture. The Black Burgundy and the Sherry may per- 
haps be considered as partial exceptions at the South. Under 
glass they may be successfully cultivated in all parts of the 
United States ; but as our plan does not embrace hot-house 
cultivation, we must refer the reader to Chorlton's " Grape- 
Grower's Guide," and other works devoted specially to grape- 
culture. 

" Grapes and Wine," a standard work on the cultivation 
of the native Grape and manufacture of American Wine, by 
Geo. Husmann, of Missouri, is one of the best authorities on 
the subject, and we recommend it to all who wish full and 
practical information on Grape culture and Wine-making. 
Published by Geo. E. Woodward, N. Y., and sent, post-paid, 
for $1 50. 

The grape will succeed in most soils, if properly prepared, 
but dry, rich loam is preferable. It must be deeply worked, 



The Fkuit Garden. 



121 



and, if at all wet, thoroughly undcrdrained. Lime, ashes, 
plaster of Paris, and bone-dust may be added to the common 
compost, or used as a top-dressing with great advantage. 
Choose a warm, sunny exposure for your grapery. In the 
shade the fruit is liable to mildew. 

All the varieties of the native grape are very readily propa- 
gated by means of layering, and most of them will grow from 
cuttings. Cuttings — unless struck where they are to remain, 
which is the better plan— should be left where they are started 
for two years before planting out. Layers may be planted out 
the first year. Set the plants from twelve to twenty feet apart, 
according to the height of the trellis and the mode of train- 
ing to be adopted. When planted, cut them down to about 
two eyes from the ground, and allow only one of these to 
grow the following season. 

In garden culture, grape-vines are trained in various ways, 
as fancy or convenience may dictate. Downing directs as 
follows : 

" The two buds left on the set are allowed to form two up- 
right shoots the next summer, which at the end of the season 
are brought down to a horizontal 
position, and fastened each way to 
the lower horizontal rail of the 
trellis, being shortened to three or 
four feet, or such a distance each 
way as it is wished to have the 
plant extend. The next year up- 
right shoots are aUowed to grow 
tbaining. one foot apart ; and these are 

stopped at the top of the trellis. The third year, the trellis 
being filled with vines, a set of lateral shoots will be produced 
from the upright leaders, with from one to three bunches on 
each. The vine is now perfect, and it is only necessary at the 
autumnal or winter pruning to cut back the lateral shoots or 
fruit-spurs to within an inch of the uprights, and new laterals 
producing fruit will annually supply their places. If it should 
6 




122 The Gaeden. 

be found, after several years bearing, that the grapes fail in 
size or flavor, the vines should be cut down to the main hori- 
zontal shoots at the bottom of the trellis. New uprights will 
be produced, which treat as before." 

This is the way to have good crops of perfect grapes. If 
you desire wood and leaves instead, less pruning will do. The 
annual pruning should be performed either in November, in 
February, or early in March — at least a month before vegeta- 
tion commences. All the other pruning required may be 
performed with the fingers or a pair of scissors. Only two 
bunches should be allowed to grow on one shoot ; and the end 
of the shoot should be pinched off, four or five joints beyond 
the last of these, when the grapes are about half grown. All 
suckers and supernumerary shoots should be rubbed off so 
soon as they appear. Beyond this, no leaves must be re- 
moved, as they are absolutely essential to the full develop- 
ment and ripening of the fruit. Every third year, at least, 
the borders where the grapevines are growing should have a 
heavy top-dressing of manure. 

Grapes may be preserved for a considerable time by taking 
the ripe bunches when free from external moisture, and pack- 
ing them in jars, filling all the interstices with baked saw- 
dust or bran. 

2. The Currant — Riles Rulrum. 

' The currant is more easily cultivated than any other fruit. 
The best mode of propagating it is by planting out cuttings 
in the fall, or quite early in the spring. It is well to procure 
the cuttings in the fall, and keep them like scions until spring. 
By taking out all the eyes of a cutting except the three or 
four upper ones, currants can easily be kept in the form of 
little trees. 

3. The Gooseberry — Riles Grossularia. 
The gooseberry requires a deep, strong, rich soil. It is very 




The Fkuit Garden. 123 

liable to suffer from drouth, and in dry seasons should be 
mulched. It is rather shy of bear- 
ing in this country, and does not 
succeed in all localities, even at 
the North. At the South it is 
nearly useless, in ordinary locali- 
ties, to attempt its culture. 

The tree form is best for the 
gooseberry; and one half of the 
top should be thinned out at the 
winter pruning, so as to admit 

HOUGHTON'S SEEDLING, j.^ ^ ^ thlough ftg he&d Q f 

the plant. When the berries are fairly set, thin them out, tak- 
ing away one half or more of them for the benefit of the rest. 
The best preventive and remedy for mildew is to keep the 
plants well manured and pruned every year. 

4. The Raspberry — Rubus Idceus. 

A deep, rich loam, rather moist than dry, suits the rasp- 
berry best. It is propagated by suckers or offsets. Plant in 
a sunny quarter of the garden, in rows from three to four feet 
apart each way. Three or four suckers may be planted to- 
gether to form a group. This should be done in the autumn 
or very early in the spring. 

All dead wood and the smaller stems should be cut away in 
the spring, even with the ground. Four or five shoots should 
be left, and tied to a stake, the tops having a' out one foot of 
their upper extremities headed off. A slight top-dressing of 
manure, with a sprinkling of salt, dug in every spring, is all 
the further cultivation required. 

The raspberry plant is in perfection when it is three years 
old. When it is about six years old, it should be dug up, and 
a new plantation made, on a piece of ground where the plant 
has not recently grown before. It is an excellent mode to 
make a small plantation every year, so as to continue a supply 
of the fruit. In extreme cold latitudes, it is necessary to bend 



124 The Garden. 

the plants down, and cover them with earth or straw through 
the winter. 

To have a fine crop of late raspberries, cut down some of 
the canes or stems, in the spring, to within a few inches of 
the ground. The new shoots which will spring up will come 
into bearing in August or September. 

5. Blackberry — Rubus of species. 

The low blackberry or dewberry {rubus Canadensis) has 
never, we believe, been cultivated, but the fruit, when well 
exposed to the sun and fully ripened, is sweet, high flavored, 
and not to be despised. It is also doubtless susceptible of 
improvement. Of the high blackberry (rtibus villosus), the 
following improved varieties are highly esteemed, and the 
first two much cultivated. 

The blackberry requires similar culture to the raspberry. 
6. The Strawberry — Fragaria of species. 

This is the queen of all berries — delicious, wholesome, and 
universally esteemed. It is a native of the temperate latitudes 
of Asia, Europe, and America. The best varieties now culti- 
vated in this country have originated from native species — 
the Scarlets and the Pines. 

In its wild or natural state, the strawberry generally pro- 
duces hermaphrodite or perfect blossoms. Cultivated varieties 
have not all retained this property. They are properly di- 
vided, with reference to their blossoms, into three classes — ■ 
hermaphrodite, staminate, and pistillate. Varieties of the first 
class are, like the wild plants, perfect in themselves, and bear 
excellent crops. In the second class, the staminate or male 




Hermaphrodite. Staminate. Pistillate. 

8TBAWBERBY BLOSSOMS, 



The Fruit Garden. 125 

organs are perfect, but the female or pistillate organs are more 
or less imperfect. They bear uncertain and comparatively 
small crops, because only a part of the blossoms develop the 
pistils sufficiently to swell into perfect fruit. Plants of the 
third class bear only pistillate or female blossoms, and are by 
themselves entirely barren ; but when grown near a proper 
number of the staminate plants, they bear the largest crops 
and the most perfect berries. In planting a strawberry bed, 
therefore, it is important to know which are staminate, which 
pistillate, and which hermaphrodite varieties, and to arrange 
them accordingly. 

Form your strawberry bed in an open exposure, free from 
the shade of trees or buildings. For an early crop, a slight 
inclination to the south or east is desirable. The ground 
must be deeply spaded, and a plenty of decomposed leaves 
and other vegetable manure and ashes well turned under and 
mixed with the soil. Pulverize the soil thoroughly. Now 
mark off your bed into rows two feet apart, and set the plants, 
if of the large growing sorts, two feet apart. For some of 
the smaller sorts one foot or eighteen inches will do. " Care 
should be taken that the plants are put into the ground just 
as they came out of it — that is, with all their laterals spread- 
ing, and not all gathered together and crammed into a little 
hole." If your principal sort is a pistillate, you must plant a 
sufficient number of staminate plants to impregnate the others. 
Of less vigorous kinds, more are required. It is well to plant 
them in alternate strips, thus : 



ppppppppppppppp 
ppppppppppppppp 
ppppppppppppppp 
ppppppppppppppp 



ppppppppppppppp 
ppppppppppppppp 
ppppppppppppppp 
ppppppppppppppp 



126 The Garden. 

The staminate strip may, of course, consist of several ro 
if desirable. 

In planting the hermaphrodite or perfect flowered varieties, 
as the Woods, Alpines, and Hautbois, of course no such 
arrangement is required. Planting may be done with success 
either in autumn or spring. Keep the ground well worked 
between the rows, to keep it free from weeds, and, unless you 
want new plants for a future setting, cut off all the runners so 
soon as they appear. A light mulching with partially decayed 
leaves or straw, covering the whole ground, but not the plants, 
will prove highly beneficial, especially in dry seasons and at 
the South. Before the fruit begins to ripen, cover the ground 
with a thin layer of straw, hay, or new-mown grass, to keep 
the fruit clean. Every autumn, if the plants be not sufficiently 
luxuriant, a light top-dressing of manure should be applied. 

A strawberry bed must always be renewed after the fourth 
year. An easy mode of renewing a strawberry is what is 
called cultivation in alternate strips. On the third summer 
from planting, suffer the runners to grow and root into the 
spaces between the rows ; then, in the fall or spring, dig up 
the old plants, and your new rows are already formed in what 
were last year the spaces between the rows. At the end of 
three years repeat the process, and so on, not forgetting to 
spade in a generous quantity of vegetable manure whenever 
you dig up the old rows. 

" To accelerate the ripening of strawberries," Downing 
says, " it is only necessary to plant the rows or beds on the 
south side of a wall or tight fence. A still simpler mode is to 
throw up a ridge of earth three feet high, running east and 
west, and to plant it in rows on the south side." Ten days 
or more may be gained in this way ; and if later fruit be de- 
sired, rows planted on the north side would probably have 
their fruiting retarded nearly as much. 

Mr. Peabody, of Georgia, one of the most successful straw- 
berry culturists in the world, insists with great emphasis that 
no animal manure should be used in the cultivation of this 



The Feuit Garden. r 127 

plant. The grand secret of success, he says, is to feed the 
plant for fruit, and not for vine — to stint the natural luxu- 
riance of the latter, and turn all the vital forces of the plant 
to the production of berries. In this way, and by keeping 
the ground shaded by mulch, and continually watering his 
plants, he has fine strawberries for nine months out of the 
twelve. "Let the cultivator remember," he says, " the four 
great requisites for a profitable strawberry bed : Proper loca- 
tion, vegetable manures, shade to the ground, and water, 
water, water." The shade to the ground is secured by the 
mulching we have recommended. The watering is less essen- 
tial at the North than at the South, but is often very advan- 
tageous. Let no reader of this little work neglect to plant a 
strawberry bed, and enjoy with thankfulness its delicious 
fruits. 

VI. MISCELLANEOUS FRUITS. 

1. The Fig — Ficus Garica. 

This delicious southern fruit is a native of Asia and Africa, 
and has been cultivated from the earliest times. In our South- 
ern States it grows almost spontaneously everywhere. In the 
Middle States it may be cultivated in the open air, by keeping 
it low, and covering it well during the winter. 

The fig is propagated by cuttings either of the shoots or the 
root, and planted either in the fall or the spring. Planted in 
hot-beds in January, they will form handsome plants the same 
season. Layers also may be made, and suckers taken off for 
planting. Set them out fifteen feet apart, and the first winter 
after planting they may be cut off nearly to the ground. The 
next year they will make vigorous shoots, one or more of which 
may be allowed to grow, and the rest rubbed off. When 
young, it is best even at the South to protect the tree during 
the winter by covering it with evergreen branches. Little 
pruning is required. North of Philadelphia the branches 
must be bent down to the ground on the approach of winter, 
and covered with three or four inches of soil. No one who 



128 The Garden. 

lives in a climate adapted to their growth, should fail to cul- 
tivate a few fig-trees. 

2. The Pomegranate — Punica Granatum. 
This unique and beautiful fruit should receive more atten- 
tion than has hitherto been given to it in all Southern gar- 
dens. It will grow readily so far north 
as Maryland, but does not always ma- 
ture its fruit perfectly north of South 
Carolina. The tree is quite ornamental, 
and the fruit has a very refreshing 
acid pulp. Its singular and beautiful 
appearance renders it a welcome addi- 
tion to the dessert. It is also used 
medicinally in fevers, on account of 
its cooling nature. It might be ex- 
ported from the South to any extent. 

BEANCH AND FEUIT. T . . , , , ... , 

It is propagated by cuttings, layers, or 
suckers, and is very easily cultivated. The finest, varieties 
are the Sweet Fruited, the Sub-acid Fruited, and the Wild 
Acid Fruited. Besides these, there are several double-flow- 
ering varieties, which are very beautiful. 

3. The Mulberry — Morus of species. 

The mulberry deserves mention here, and a place in the 
garden or lawn. It is a hardy and handsome tree, and pro- 
duces a palatable and wholesome fruit. 

The Red Mulberry (morus rubra) is a native species, but is 
less desirable for the garden than the Black Mulberry (morus 
nigra), a species much esteemed and widely cultivated in Eu- 
rope. This sort will hardly succeed, except in very warm and 
sheltered situations, north of New York. It is propagated 
by cuttings, and easily cultivated. 




The Garden. 



129 



A CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS 



IS EACH MOHTH OF THE YEAR, FOR THE ORCHARD, VINEYARD, 
FARM, GREENHOUSE AND GARDEN. 




JANUARY. 

Orchard. 

Destroying eggs of insects, protection of trees against the depredations of mice 
and rabbits, which in some sections do much damage by girdling the trees, is 
about all that can be done at this season. A wash of cow-dung, lime, and sul- 
phur is recommended as a preventive against the rabbit. Mice work only 
under the snow, and if this is trodden down occasionally, immediately around the 
tree, there is little danger from their attacks. 

Vineyard. 

In the northern sections of the country, vines, if not already protected, should 
be laid down on the ground and some litter thrown over them ; or if the ground 
is not frozen, cover with three inches of earth. In the latter case, the vines 
should be raised early in the spring, or the buds will be apt to rot. If vines are 
not already pruned, do so, selecting a mild day when the temperature is above 
the freezing-point. 

Farm. 

The ground being now frozen, out-door operations are in the main suspended ; 
still, the industrious farmer will find plenty of occupation in planning for next 
season's operations. His cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, cows, and especially the 
young stock, will require his attention, that they may be in good condition in the 
spring. 

Fences may be repaired, firewood cut, ice-houses filled, manure thrown iflto 
heaps and prepared for spring use, and tools of all kinds repaired. 



130 The Gaeden. 

Garden. 

There is but little that can be done at this season. If not done already, and the 
ground is not covered with snow, clear up all rubbish, put away poles, stakes, 
etc., under cover, and prepare new ones, if required, for next season's use. If 
there are any cold frames in use, they should he aired when the weather will 
permit. See that a good stock of seeds is provided for spring use. 

Green-house. 

Admit air at every favorable opportunity when the thermometer out of doors 
is above the freezing point ; 45° to 50° is high enough as a night temperature for 
general green-house" plants. Camellias and Azaleas do better at 40°. Lookout 
for insects, and fumigate with tobacco as soon as seen. Be careful that the smoke 
is not too strong. Camellias will soon be in bloom ; also some of the early- 
blooming Azaleas. Avoid wetting the flowers when syringing the plant?. Water 
plants only when needed ; perform the operation in the morning, using water five 
to ten degrees higher than the temperature of the house. A few Achimeues and 
Gloxinias may be potted and plunged in bottom heat, for early bloom. Keep 
plants of Calla Ethiopica well watered. Cyclamen persicum will now be in bloom, 
and make a fine show if the bulbs are large. Scarlet Geraniums will require but 
little water at this season. Cinerarias should be kept near the glass, and repot- 
ted if needed. Keep all plants neat and clean, and tie into neat shape when re- 
quired. 




FEBRUARY. 

Orchard. 

But little can be added to the directions given last month. Cions may be cut 
when the wood is not frozen, and may be preserved in damp sand or moss in a 
cool cellar. Keep a look-out for mice and rabbits. It is the general practice with 
farmers, and some professed fruit-growers, to prune apples, pears, cherry, and 
other trees in mid-winter. We do not regard the season as the correct or best 
one for the labor, and why? because if the operation is correctlv performed, that 
is, the cut made close to the bud or body, it is liable to dry hard, crack, and cause 
death of the bud in the one case, or decay of the trunk or large limb in the 
other. It is better to delay pruning until June. 

lincyard. 

There is nothing to be done here to which the directions of last month will 
not apply. If any vines a»e not pruned, do it when the wood is not frozen. 

Garden. 

Sketch out plans for flower-beds, and arrange the position of plants therein, 
60 that there may be no delay when the time arrives for commencing work. 



The Gabden. 



131 



MaterJAS» should" be got ready for starting hot-beds. About the last of the 
month ^fil be soon enough to make the bed, but in the mean time secure a supply 
of materials. Fresh horse, manure, to which should be added an equal bulk of 
leaves, may be thrown together in heaps, and turned over every three or four days 
until it ii j, thoroughly heated. Manure alone gives the greatest heat, but a mix- 
ture of leaves and manure the most permanent. Earth should be provided for 
the bed at the first opportunity, and covered over to prevent freezing up again 
until wanted. Look over the shrubbery, hardy roses, etc., and if they need prun- 
ing, it may be done now. Thin out the old wood of the currant and gooseberry 
bushes, and thus improve the size and quality of the fruit next season. 

Farm. 

Our directions for last month will apply to this. The principal business will 
be the care of the animals, and looking after a supply of wood for next season, 
as well as getting out posts and rails for new fences, and for the repairs of old 
ones. While the snow is on the ground, hauling from the wood-lot can be done 
to great advantage. 

Green-house. 

The house should now be gay with flowers. Camellias will be in full bloom, 
and in warm houses Azaleas also. Both should be carefully attended, that they 
do not lack for water. One of the best plants for winter bloom is the Monthly 
Carnation, and if a good supply of plants has been secured, there will now be 

Elenty of blooms. Look carefully to the fires, that frost may not get into the 
ouse on cold nights. Endeavor to keep the night temperature as regular as 
possible, and air the house in the daytime at every favorable opportunity. Prop- 
agate cuttings of Verbenas, Petunias, Carnations, and such other plants as are 
wanted for bedding out in the garden, or for the green-house next winter. Cut- 
tings put in now will make fine strong plants by the time for planting out. Ci- 
nerarias and Primroses in bloom may be watered occasionally with manure water. 
The Double- White Chinese Primrose is a splendid object when well grown. It 
must be propagated by cuttings. If plants of Deutzia Gracilis, Weigelia Rosea, or 
Double-Flowering Plum were potted in the fall, they may now be started in the 
warmest corner of the house. Insects will now begin to be busy. Give them 
occasional doses of tobacco smoke. 




MARCH. 



If new orchards are to be planted the coming spring, make out lists of trees 
wanted, and send to a reliable nurseryman at once. You will be able to secure 
better trees now, than if the order is sent just at the planting season. Continue 
searching for eggs of insects under the rough bark, and on limbs of trees. It will 
be advantageous to apply a wash of strong soft soap and water to the body and 
larger branches, to destroy any eggs that may otherwise escape. Look out for 
the apple-borer now. Remove the earth for a few inches in depth immediately 
around the tree. Scrape the bark gently with the back of the pruning-knife, to 
ascertain where the borer is located, then cut him out. We have found in our 
practice that a mallet and a half-inch carpenter's gouge are the best instruments. 



132 The Garden. 

Don't be satisfied with poking a wire into the holes. We know to our cost tha.. 
it is not always effectual. 

Vineyards 
As soon as the frost is out of the ground, uncover all vines that have been pro- 
tected by earth or litter. If left covered after the ground begins to get warm, 
the buds are 1 able to decay. Tie the vines up to the trellis, and if new vines are 
to be planted, secure them' at once. 

Farm. 

Improve all the favorable weather this month to haul manure into the fields, 
ready to be plowed in at the proper time. Manure should be thrown into 
compact heaps, and spread when the frost is not in the ground. Select the best 
grain for seed, and see that it is free from seeds of weeds. Considerable work 
may be done The latter part of this month iu picking up and hauling off stone 
from fields that require it. Fences may be put in repair, and new ones made. 

Garden. 

Make hot beds for starting seeds of early vegetables, and sow seeds of Pepper. 
Eggplant, Tomato, Early Cabbage, Cauliflower, Celery, etc. Hardy vegetable 
seeds may be sown in the open ground the last of the month— Onions, Beets, 
Peas, Parsnep. Lettuce, Radish, Spinach, etc. Remove covering from Asparagus, 
Spinach, Raspberry-canes, etc. Prepare all vacant ground for general planting in 
April and May. Seeds of hardy flowers may be sown as soon as the ground will 
admit. Tender annuals should be sown in the hot-bed, and transplanted into 
open ground in May. 

Green-Jioiise. 

Camellias will be now making their growth, and will need more water than at 
other times, also an increase of temperature. About the commencement of 
growth is a good time to graft or inarch with better varieties. Azaleas will be in 
bloom unless they have been kept very cool : but in a large collection, flowers 
may be had from December to May, some varieties flowering early, others late. 

Cinerarias will now be in bloom; fumigate them if attacked with green-fly. 

Start Gloxinias and Achimenes for succession. 

Flower seeds may be started in pots and boxes. 

Propagate Chrysanthemums. Cuttings make better plants than those procured 
by division of the old roots. Fuchsias struck now will make fine blooming 
plants for next summer. 

Push the propagating of plants to the utmost now, to have an abundance at 
time for planting out of doors. Also put in cuttings for next winter's stock. The 
season is so far advanced that the sun will furnish all the heat by day, and mod- 
erate fires only will be required at night. Give air freely in all moderate weather, 
and close the house early, to retain as much sun-heat as possible. 




"" This is the month when the most of the planting is done, though we prefer 
doing this in the fall, in this latitude. Prepare your ground thoroughly over the 
■whole orchard, if a new one is to be planted," by plowing, subsoiling, and en- 
riching. If new trees are to be planted in places where old ones have died, dig 
tha holes not less than six feet in diameter, and fill up with fresh soil if possible. 



The Garden. 133 

Grafting may now be done. Cions should have been cut during the winter; 
but if tins has been neglected, they should be cut a few days before wanted for 
use. Don't be in a hurry to graft too early, but wait until the buds bsgin to start. 
If your trees are not growing thriftily, give your orchard a good top-dressing of 
old manure, and plow it in. 

Vineyard. 

Unless the soil is naturally drained, it is absolutely necessary to success that 
it should be thoroughly drained. F}fteen to eighteen inches is deep enouerh 
to work the soil for a vineyard. Plant only welt-tested varieties found to suc- 
ceed in your locality. Test new varieties, if you have the time and space for 
experiments. 

Farm. 

Plow as soon as the ground is in a fit state, which it will be when it will 
crumble and fall to pieces. In some soils plowing, done when the ground is 
wet, leaves it to bake hard on becoming dry. Spread the manure hauled 
out last month, and plow it under. Spring grain of all kinds will need to 
be sown as soon as the ground is prepared properly. If root crops are culti 
vated, carrots, parsneps", and beets should be sown at once. A seed drill 
will be found very useful at this time. Plant potatoes on rich ground, or made 
bo at the time of planting. Do not plant the small potatoes ; better cut up the 
large ones in pieces, if seed is scarce. 

Garden. 

Uncover the strawberry beds, or rather expose the crowns of the plants. The 



mulch will be better left to keep the ground moist. Make new beds if 
Beds made now, and properly cared for, will give a full crop next spring. Pork 
up the asparagus beds lightly, taking care not to injure the buds or roots. Make 
new beds now, preparing the ground to the depth of eighteen inches, and iucor 
porating with it a considerable amount of old manure. Salt is considered an ex- 
cellent fertilizer for this vegetable— it may be applied in spring or fall. 

Early Cabb;ve plants mav be planted out the latter end of this mouth. Plants 
in hot-beds should be thinned out, or better transplanted three to four inches 
apart into a cooler bed. Plant Peas for a succession. Early Potatoes should now 
be put in drills. It is rather too soon to plant beans or corn this month. 

Plant out flowering shrubs, roses, etc. Seeds of hardy plants may be sown, 
but all seeds of tender plants should be kept until next month, or sown in a 
hot-bed. Hyacinths and tulips should have their winter covering removed, and 
the surface of the soil stirred. Transplant herbaceous plants. 

6-reen-Jiouse. 

There will be httle or no fire heat required this month if care is taken to 
shut up the house before the sun leaves it. Give all the air possible during 
favorable weather, to harden the plants for removal out of doors next month. 
Prepare for a general potting by getting sou, pots, etc., in order, but do not let a 
plant wait for a time when it wants attention. Water for all plants will now be 
required oftener. Plants that are to be left in the house during the summer will 
require some shading material to be put upon trie glass. Lath-screens made with 
openings about an inch and a half between, and placed outside of the glass, expe- 
rience has shown to be an effectual and cheap mode of shading. Propagate by 
seeds, roots, and cuttings, inarching and grafting; young plants thus get strong 
before winter. Remove seedlings as soon as possible from seed pans, and put 
them single into pots. Keep Camellias rather close and warm to promote a vigor- 
ous growth. 




134 The Gaeden. 




MAT. 

Orchard . 

The season for planting is pretty well over by this time, but if any remains t» 
be clone, do it as soon as it is possible to do it well. If trees are received in a 
dry state, bury them root and branch for a few days, then prune severely when 
planted out. Grafting, if not already finished, may be continued. 

If plowing is to be done in the orchard, see "that a careful man holds the 
plow, that as few roots may be injured as possible. Make war on insects this 
month. Remove nests of tent-caterpillar on their first appearance, and get your 
neighbor to join you in your efforts for their destruction. 

Vineyard. 

If vines are not already planted, it may yet be done. Vines, if not tied to the 
trellis, should be so at once. After the buds start, they are very liable to be rub- 
bed off in handling. The time to tie up vines is while the buds are dormant. 
Layers may now be made if it is thought desirable to increase vines in this way ; 
preference will generally be given to vines raised from cuttings planted out in 
well-prepared ground. 

Farm. 

This will be a busy month. Most of the spring grains will have been sown in 
April, but the latter part of this month is the time for corn-planting. It is useless 
to put the seed in until the ground is warm, and equally useless to plant upon any 
but a rich soil. Some of the larger-growing beets should be sown for feeding the 
cows and other stock during the fall and winter. The white sugar beet and yellow 
globe mangel-wurzel are the best for this purpose. Potatoes for the general 
crop should be put in as early as possible, Let the pastures get a good start be- 
fore the cattle are turned out. Put in a good supply of corn fodder now, to use in 
the hot months, when pastures fail. 

Garden. 

Plant early Valentine and China beans for using green, and Limas for shelling. 

Plant sweet corn about first of month, and again in about two weeks, for a succes- 
sion. The first planting may be cut off by frost, but is often successful. Trans- 
plant tomatoes and other plants from hot-beds and frames as soon i\< danger 
from frost is past. Cabbage and cauliflower plants should have a very rich soil. 
Plant cucumbers, melons, "and bush squashes in hills at least six feet apart, and 
manure well. Sow late sorts of peas. In the flower-garden, bythe middle of 
the month, seeds of most flowers maybe planted: those kinds that bear trans- 
planting may be sown in a reserve bed, from which they may be taken when 
wanted. 

Plant bulbs of Gladiolus, Tigrida, Tuberose, etc., and prepare beds for the 
bedding-plants from the green-house. 



The Garden. 135 

Greenhouse. 

idmit air freely in good weather ; toward the end of the month leave a little 
. on all night, increasing the quantity by degrees. 

shifting plants into larger pots must be carefully proceeded with. Seedlings 
and cuttings must be potted off in time, or they will destroy each other. 

Bedding-plants of all kinds may be planted out about the middle of the month. 
Carnations should be planted out, and if required for winter blooming, the 
flower shoots pinched off frequently. Neapolitan Violets should be divided, and 
planted out in rich ground, partially shaded. Water and syringe Camellias and 
Azaleas freely while making their growth. 

About the middle of the month some of the most hardy of the plants may be 
brought from the green-house, and placed in a position where they will be shaded 
tor a portion of the day ; they should be carefully attended to for water. 




JUNE. 

Orchard. 

If large limbs are to be removed, this month is the time to do it. The sap is 
Toon in active operation, and wounds quickly heal over. Consider well before 
you remove a branch what is to be gained by it. Never send an ignorant laborer 
into an orchard to prune if you would not have an indiscriminate cutting of limbs, 
but study the form of the tree carefully, and if the branches need thinning, use a 
sharp saw and knife, and leave the wound smooth. Cover the wounds with graft- 
ing wax, or shellac dissolved in alcohol. Rub off all shoots from the stock about 
new-set grafts, and renew the wax if it has melted or cracked off. Continue the 
war upon the insect tribe, and especially the caterpillars and borers. 

Vineyard. 

Vines will now be making rapid growth, and will require attention in tying 
np, pinching, etc. It is the usual practice to stop the shoots at three or four 
joints or leaves beyond the last cluster of fruit, The bunches will require thin- 
ning out, leaving only one bunch to each shoot, if fine fruit and well-ripened 
wood is to be obtained. 

Farm. 

Corn is planted in some sections as late as the first of this month, and if an 
early-maturing kind is selected, and the land is in a good condition, fair crops are 
often the result. It is not too late to put in a good supply of corn fodder to help 
out the pastures in the dry weather in August. The plow and hoe must be kept 
busy in the fields of early planted corn and other hoed crops, to eradicate the 
weeds. 

The latter part of this month haying will commence in many sections. Get 
everything ready beforehand, that there may be no delay when the time comes. 

Garden. 

The principal work in the garden this month will be keeping down the weeds. 
Don't let them get a start. Plant sweet corn for succession, also beans, peas, 
lettuce. Celery for early use should be set in trenches well manured. Thin out 
beds of onions, beets, carrots, salsify, etc., and keep them free from weeds. 



136 



The Garden. 



G^recn-hoiiso. 

Green-house plants should be mostly placed out of doors this month. In plac- 
ing plants out of doors, try to have them so that they will be in shade soon after 
mid-day. This is especially a point of importance as we go farther sonth, where 
the heat of afternoon suns often nearly destroys the plants. 

Camellias should remain in the house until growth ceases and the wood be- 
comes brown. Azaleas should be re-potted, if needed, and vigorous shoots pinch- 
ed to make the plants bushv. Prepare soil for winter use. Neapolitan violets for 
winter bloom should be divided, and planted out in rich soil. Achimenes. Glox- 
inias, Caladiums. etc., will now take the place of the plants taken out of doors. 
The house should be well shaded by the lath screens before recommended, and 
careful attention given to watering. Torrenia Asiatica will now be a fine object ; 
it looks best in a vase, or hanging basket, the shoots being allowed to droop 
over the side. 







ItED AN 'I 



JULY 



Orchard. 

Pruning may be continued as directed last month. Look to the grafts set last 
ppring that they be not robbed by the numerous suckers that are sure to push 
out about the stocks in which they are set. If any trees were set last spring and 
not mulched, do it now, that their roots may be preserved from the influence of 
the sun this month and next. If it is desirable to have large, fine fruit, the crop 
should be severely thinned now. 

Vineyard. 

Continue to tie shoots to trellis as growth progresses. Look over the bunches, 
and see that too many are not left on. An over-crop this season will be followed 
by unripe wood in the fall, which will be still further weakened by the cold of 
winter, and a meagre crop the following season will be the certain result. 

If mildew makes its appearance, give the vines a dusting of sulphur. De La 
Vergnes' Sulphur Bellows is the best means of applying it. 

Farm. 

This month will commence the haying and harvest, and those who would keep 
tip with their work have already secured sufficient assistance. Reapers, Mowing- 
machines, Ilay Tedders, and Horse Pitchforks save an immense amount of hard 
labor, and even on farms of moderate size will be found to save more than the'r 
cost in two or three seasons. Cut hay before it becomes withered and dry. It is 
frequently left standing too long. 

Cut wheat before it is fully ripe, and while it is in the dough state. 

Sow buckwheat early in the month to avoid frosts when ripening. Turnips 



The Garden 



137 



should be sown the latter part of the month. Continue the cultivation of hoed 
crops, and keep down all weeds. 

Garden. 

Transplant cabbage and cauliflower plants for a late crop. Continue to trans- 
plant ceiery into trenches, and see that the soil in which they grow is well en- 
riched. Corn for using as green corn may be planted as late as the 15th, to give 
a supply until frosts. Hoe melons and cucumbers until the vines cover the 
ground. If melons are thinned on the vines, those remaining will be all the 
hner. Dig up all the vacant spaces from which early vegetables have been re- 
moved, and sow turnips, spinach, and other late crops. 

Green-house. 

The majority of the plants will be out of doors, as before advised, but will re- 
quire to be looked over every day or two to see that they are not over or under 
watered. Those who have large collections will find it to their advantage to con 
struct a sort of shed, with the sides and roof of lath, placed about an inch and i 
half apart This will admit sufficient light and air on all sides, as well as the rain 
Some of our large florists and nurserymen have used such structures much to their 
advantage, for the protection of Camellias, Azaleas, etc., from the sun. It is im 
portant now to prepare plants for winter bloom. Chinese Primroses, Cinerarias 
Calceolarias may be sown this month, and cuttings of all desirable plants put in. 
Carnations from cuttings, planted out, may have the tops pinched off to make 
them branch freely and prevent bloom now, Look over the plants, and see if any 
need re-potting. Tuberoses, for. late blooming in-doors, may be potted now. 
Mignonette and Sweet Alyssum seeds may be sown in pots or boxes. 




AUGU 

Orchard. 

There will he little remaining to be done in the orchard this month if previous 
hints have been followed. If pruning is not completed, it is not too late to 



138 The Garden. 

finish it now. Early fruit should he gathered and marketed as soon as ripe, 
and all windfalls or wormy apples gathered and taken to the pig-pens. The 
fruit intended for market should he carefully picked hy hand. Fruit bruised by 
shaking from the tree brings a lower price, and quickly decays. 

Vineyard. 

The directions given last month apply so well to this, that we can add but little. 
Some of the fruit of the early varieties will begin to color the last of the month. 
Continue to tie shoots to the trellis, and use the sulphur remedy for mildew. 

Farm. 

The harvesting of grass and grain crops will be completed early this month, 
the time somewhat depending upon the season. See that the grain is properly 
dried before it is put into barns or stacks. If in stacks, they should be well built, 
that they may effectually shed the rain. Grass and grain will both keep well in 
stacks if they are properly put up. 

Fall plowing may commence the last of the month. Where farms are large, 
plowing should be continued at all favorable times, when other work is not 
pressing. 

Garden. 

Continue to eradicate the weeds whenever they make their appearance. Pro- 
vide a good supply of seeds for next season's use, of those varieties found to be 
successful and of good quality. Select the earliest ripeningand best vegetables 
of the different varieties for seed, and not, as is too often the case, gather them 
after the crop is nearly over, and the best have been used. Sow turnips on vacant 
places. Earth up celery wanted for early use, and set out plants for the latest 
crops. 

Gireen-liouse. 

Green-house plants in general, if healthy, and wood matured, will be now out of 
doors in a sheltered spot, defending the pots from the sun, which is even of more 
importance than shading the tops. Finish potting all plants in need of the oper- 
ation as soon as possible, that the}' may become well established before winter. 
Almost everything may now be successfully propagated. Gather seeds of desira- 
ble plants as they ripen. Oxalis and Laehenalias should now be potted. Plants 
out of doors, as well as in the house, will receive much benefit by a syringing 
every evening. Sow seeds of annuals required for winter bloom. Secure a good 
supply of soil, pots, etc., for future use. 

Now is a good time to look over houses ; make any necessary repairs ; paint 
and put in order for the reception of the plants. 




The Garden. 139 




SEPTEMBER. 
Orchard. 

If tree9 are to be planted in the fall, which is the best time in this latitude, pre- 
pare the ground thoroughly beforehand. Order the trees in season, that they may 
be on hand when wanted. Select only such varieties as are known to succeed in 
your localities. Look out for the borers this month, and do not leave any to per- 
petuate the race another season. Gather varieties of fruit maturing this month 
as soon as fit to pick. 

Vineyard. 

All the varieties of grapes worth having will mature this month. Let the fruit 
become fully ripe before picking, which will not be before some days after it is 
fully colored. If the fruit is intended for wine, the longer it is left on the vine, 
so that it escapes frosts, the better will be the quality of the wine. If fruit is to be 
sent to market, pack in boxes about one foot longby six inches wide, and of suf- 
ficient depth to hold two layers of bunches; pack the fruit, closo that there be no 
movement of it in transportation. 

Farm. 

Prepare soil thoroughly for winter wheat, and sow early. Sowing with a drill 
will be found advantageous on smooth ground. Grass-seed may be sown alone 
this month on well-enriched soil, or with the winter grain. Early potatoes may 
be dug and marketed, or put under cover. Cut buckwheat as soon as it ripens. 
Select the best ears of corn for seed. This is a good time to drain land, dig out 
muck from the bogs for winter use in the barn-yards, and grub up bushes, briars, 
etc. 

Garden. 

Keep the garden clear from rubbish. As soon as one crop is off, even if no 
other is to be sown, clear off the dead vines, etc., and carry them to the manure 
heap ; dig up the ground and keep clear from weeds. Continue to earth up celery, 
when the soil is not wet. Sow seeds of early cabbages and cauliflower plants for 
preserving over winter in frames. 

Green-hoxise. 

Clear out and repair the house, if not already done, preparatory to bringing in 
the plants the latter part of this, or earl}' next month. Sow seeds of annuals for 
winter or early spring blooming. " Pot bulbs of Hyacinths, Crocus, Narcissus, Lach- 
enalias, for early bloom. Propagate Geraniums, Fuchsias, Salvias, Petunias, Ver- 
benas, etc. ; Primroses, Cinerarias and Chyrsanthemums should be repotted, and 
encouraged to grow. Water sparingly all plants in a state of rest. Take up such 
plants as were planted out during the summer, pot and put them in a sheltered 
place out of the sun for a few days. See that you have a good stock of Monthly 
Carnations. Heliotropes for winter flowering should not be planted out, but be 
grown in pots all summer, and the pots plunged. Clean, tie, and arrange plants 
of all kinds. Where there is not" plenty of room, cuttings put in early will an- 
swer better than old plants taken tip, and will also save much labor. Take up 
plants of Neapolitan \ iolets, plant them in frames to be covered with sash and 
mats on cold nights With careful management flowers may be had all winter. 
They may be also potted for the green-house, but will be required to be kept 
very cool to insure bloom. 



140 The Garden. 




O CTOBER. 
Orchard. 

Pears and apples, usually termed fall varieties, should he gathered a week or 
ten days before they would naturally drop. Pick them by hand ; lay them in bar- 
rels or boxes, inclosing them tight, and place them in a cool but dry room or cel- 
lar. So cared for they will often keep till near or quite mid-winter. Winter va- 
rieties, especially long-keeping sorts, should be left on the tree as long as the 
weather will permit. Planting may be done the latter part of this month, on 
ground previously prepared. 

Orchards that have been many years in grass, as well as the trees in young or- 
chards, will receive far greater benefit from plowing the ground, and leaving it in 
a rough state for action of the winter frosts, than if the work is left until 
spring. 

Farm. 

Fall plowing should not be neglected this month. Keep the teams going in all 
favorable weather. Dig potatoes and get in all the root crops before the ground 
freezes. Turnips can be left out until the last. See that all roots are put away- 
dry. Root crops generally keep better in pits out of doors than when stored in 
cellars. Those wanted for spring use may be placed in pits and lightly covered 
with earth at first. When hard freezing is likely to occur, cover with two feet of 
earth. 

Vineyard. 

Gather all grapes before frosty nights occur. Prune vines as soon after the fall 
of the leaf as possible. Grape-cuttings made as soon as the foliage of the vine 
drops, and planted out in well-prepared land, will start early in the spring, and 
make a stronger and better growth than when made during winter and planted 
out in the spring. Plant new vineyards the last of the month, on ground previ- 
ously well-prepared. 

Garden. 

Mow off the tops of asparagus, and cover the beds four to six inches deep 
with manure. Cauliflower and cabbage plants should now be taken up and 
placed in frames for wintering. Plant deep, and about three inches apart. Leave 
off the sashes until cold weather. Continue to earth up celery. Turnips and 
salsify for spring use may be left in the ground all winter; those wanted for use 
may be taken up and preserved in sand through the winter. Strawberry beds 
should be looked over and all weeds removed. 

Green-house. 

Tender plants should be taken in early this month. The house should be 
abundantly ventilated, care being taken to close up early to avoid frosts. Look over 
the plants and see that they are free from insects. Fire may be needed at night 
the latter end of the month. Avoid a high temperature, 45 to 50 degrees should 
not be exceeded. Hyacinths should be potted early this month ; place them 
under the stage in tlie house, and keep the soil moist. Chrysanthemums for 
winter blooming shelter from cold rains and early frosts, water with manure 
water alternately with clean. Pot all young struck plants. Plants to In- taken 
up from the flower-beds should previously have their roots cut round, and then 
after potting should be placed in frames or in the green-house, to encourage 
fresh roots. Water should now be given with a careful hand, and only when 
necessary. Bear in mind that bad watering is the great cause why pot plants 
so often languish and die. 



The Garden. 141 



NOVEMBER. 

Orchard. 

Tree planting may be continued all this month, or nntil the ground becomes 
frozen. All dry soils work better and easier in fall than spring, and all hardy 
trees succeed as well or better transplanted in the autumn. All apples intended 
for late keeping should now be taken to the cellar, which should be well ventilated 
whenever the weather will permit. 

Vineyard. 

Grapevines should receive their pruning back this month for next spring's 
growth. As to the number of buds to be left on each cane, and the number of 
canes to a vine, much depends on the vigor and age of the vine. No universal 
rule can be laid down for vineyard pruning. After pruning, lay the vines upon 
the ground, and cover with earth or leaves, m this latitude and farther north. 

Farm. 

Continue plowing as long as possible. All clayey lands if plowed deeply and 
turned up rough and exposed to the winter frosts will improve in quality fully as 
much as the covering of one coat of manure given and worked in in the spring. 
All the stock should now be taken into the barns and well cared for. Young stock 
especially should be well fed and kept growing all winter. All root crops left in 
the ground should be at once secured, either in the cellar or in pits out of doors. 
Secure a good supply of fire wood. 

Garden. 

Lose no time in attending to the gathering and storing of roots of all kinds. 
Cabbages, celery, etc., should at once be trenched and prepared for early ob- 
tainment in winter. Leave no fence corners or by-places occupied with heaps of 
rubbish, old melon vines, bean haulm, etc., for these are almost invariably the 
harbors of insects, and if left will cause you to regret your neglect another sea- 
son. Asparagus beds, if not already done, should at once have the old tops mowed 
and cleared off, a good dressing of salt given, and the whole covered with half- 
rotted stable-manure, say three inches deep. 

Green- house. 

Admit air rather freely when the weather will permit. Azaleas for blooming 
early, keep at the warmest part of the house. If the buds are well set, and 
prominent, and the heat about 60 degrees, some will be in bloom by Christ- 
mas ; those once forced will come earlier of their own accord again. Those for 
spring flowering keep as cool as possible, so that the temperature is above 35 
degrees. The buds on the earliest Camellias wiL now be swelling, and should be 
placed with the forward Azaleas. Cinerarias, encourage the forwardest to grow 
in a moist gentle heat ; chrysanthemums encourage with manure water. Keep 

Elants clear from dirt and "insects by washing and fumigation. Temperature 
•om 40° to 45° at night. Water only when necessary. Clean pots, paths, stages, 
and tie and train plants in bad weather. 



142 



The Gaeden. 




DECEMBER. 

Orchard. 

All fruit trees should be carefully looked over at this season for the purpose of 
destroying insects. Borers may have laid themselves up cosily for winter quar- 
ters in the bodies of the trees. Search for as recommended before. The eggs 
of caterpillars should be sought for on the small branches and in the forks of 
the trees. The cocus, or scale insect, should be destroyed by washing the bodies 
and limbs of trees to which they have attached themselves. Strong lye water, or 
a mixture of soft soap and fresh-slacked lime will destroy them. If you have 
not yet mulched around your newly planted trees, do so at once. 

Vineyard. 

Pruning, if it has been deferred, should be completed and the vines laid upon the 
ground and covered. If the wood is wanted for propagation, cut it up into suit- 
able lengths and store away in moist sand in the cellar. 

Farm. 

The winter is often a comparatively leisure season. It is profitably occupied in 
most cases in draining wet lands. Make the ditches narrow, two and one half 
to three feet deep, and use two-inch tiles for the primary drains, and four to six 
in«h tiles for the main or outlets. Cutting wood, getting out fence posts, and 
fencing will occupy the attention of the farmer now. See that a good stock is 
now provided, that work may not be interrupted in a hurrying time. All kinds 
of livestock will now require careful attention ; see that they are properly fed, and 
with a variety of food, if possible. 

Garden. 

The hints of last month, if heeded, will leave but little to be done now. Look 
to the roots, celery, cabbages, etc., stored in trenches and pits, and put on the 
final winter covering, which should be sufficient to exclude entirely the frost. 
Keep cold frames used for protection of cabbage and cauliflower plants well aired 
at all favorable opportunities. 

€rreen-h«use. 

Admit air freely when the external temperature is above 35°, especially among 
plants designed for late blooming. Azaleas for late bloom, keep cool those 
swelling their buds, not below 45°. 

Poinsettia Pulcherima will make a warm green-house gay for several weeks. 
Chinese Primrose, water with liquid manure when it shows flower buds; give 
the Double Write a favorable and warm position. Water seldom; be regulated 
by temperature, evaporation, and the wants of the plants ; when the (lower buds 
are swelling and opening, give it oftener and after breakfast, and with the water 
rather higher than the temperature of the house. 



The Flower Garden. 148 



VIII. 
THE FLOWER GARDEN 

God might have hade the earth bring forth 

Enough for great and small, 
The oak-tree and the cedar-tree, 

Without a flower at all. 

He might have made enough, enough 

For every want of ours — 
Por luxury, medicine, and toil, 

And yet have made no flowera 

Our outward life requires them not — 

Then wherefore have they birth ? 
To minister delight to man ; 

To beautify the earth ; 

To comfort man — to whisper hope" 

Whene'er his faith is dim ; 
Por whoso careth for the flowers, 

Will much more care for him.— Mary Bowitt, 

I.— mTKODTTCTOBY REMARKS. 

•E who loves not flowers, and grudges the 
few square feet of soil which they are 
grumblingly permitted to occupy in a cor- 
ner of his garden, may skip over this 
chapter. "We give him our heartfelt pity ; 
to the wife or daughter, whose more re- 
fined and elevated tastes have not allowed him to 
devote his front yard to the cultivation of potatoes 
and cahbages, we offer our thanks. 
Had we room, we could prove even to the devotee 
of literal utilitarianism, that the flower garden has its uses — 
that lilies and dahlias have quite as important a mission in the 
world as beets and carrots; but we must forego the argu- 
ments and illustrations which this course would call for, and 




144 The Garden. 

confine ourself to the .ess interesting, but perhaps more use- 
ful, details which follow. 

A word, however, to the ladies, to whom we most respect- 
fully dedicate this chapter. We shall take it for granted that 
you love flowers ; for we hold that she who does not, is no true 
woman. But perhaps you are ready to declare that, positively, 
you have no time to devote to their cultivation , that you have 
not sufficient strength for such labor; or, possibly, that all 
out-of-door employments are ungenteel and unfeminine. 

Unless you have time to be sick, which you will hardly ad- 
mit, you have time to take care of your health. To do this 
properly, you must have daily exercise in the open air. Where 
can you take this more pleasantly or more profitably than in 
your flower garden ? You are not strong enough, do you say ? 
This is just the way to acquire strength. Begin very moder- 
ately, allowing some stronger person to do the heaviest work. 
An hour or two of light, active, and pleasurable employment, 
out-of-doors, each fair day, take our word for it, will prove 
more beneficial than the best tonic mixture that your good and 
much respected doctor, with all his skill, can prepare for you. 
Try it. You will soon be able to use the light hoe and spade, 
which we recommend you to procure at once, with ease and 
pleasure. The quack's Female Pills find few patrons among 
the wives and daughters who cultivate their own flower gar- 
dens. The idea that the employment is unsuited to woman is 
a preposterous and absurd one. Where is her place if not 
among the flowers — herself the fairest flower of all? Shall 
she blush to own that her own fair hands have reared the 
floral gems with which she adorns her hair ? But we rejoice 
in believing that few of our readers will urge this plea. They 
will, for the most part, fully agree with us that floriculture 
should have a prominent place among the female " accomplish 
ments*** 

For her light work, a lady requires implements made spe- 
cially for her use. A spade ; a hoe ; a rake ; a fork ; a trowel ; 
a watering-pot; a pruning-knife ; a pair of small shears; a 



The Flower Garden. 145 

basket, for the weeds and clippings ; a small hammer ; & ball 
of twine ; a stout apron, with pockets for the pruning-knife, 
shears, etc. ; a pair of strong leather gloves, for handling prickly 
shrubs ; and a pair of overshoes, will make up a very good 
outfit. The implements should all be light, and of the. best 
quality. The pruning-knife should be kept very sharp. Use 
it for cutting slips, and for removing branches, leaves, etc. 
The shears are used for clipping hedges, box, borders, etc. 

In connection with her gardening operations, we recommend 
to every lady who has sufficient leisure the study of botany — 
both structural and systematic. 

IL— LAYING- OUT A ELOWEB GABDEN. 

To attempt, within the limits of a few pages, to fully instruct 
those who have extensive grounds to lay out, would be pre- 
sumptuous. Such persons will need to study Downing's 
" Landscape Gardening," or seek the aid of a practical land- 
scape gardener. Our brief hints and suggestions are intended 
for those whose ornamental grounds are measured by rods 
instead of acres. 

"We will suppose that, as is generally the case, you wish to 
devote a portion of the space immediately around your dwell- 
ing-house to the cultivation of flowers. 

If the distance between the entrance gate and the house be 
small, you must be content with a straight walk from the one 
to the other ; but this should be relieved, and its necessary 
stiffness somewhat modified, by curved side-walks, branching 
from the main walk near the front door, and running back to 
the vegetable garden in the rear of the house. "Where the 
space is a little greater, the straight walk should not be toler- 
ated. It may be curved in various ways, as taste may sug- 
gest, and the nature of the case permit. The walks may all 
have edgings of dwarf box. Near these walks we recom» 
mend cutting a sufficient number of flower-beds in the turf. 
This gives a much more beautiful appearance to the yard than 
it would have if devoted exclusively to flower-beds. If more 
7 



146 The Garden. 

space be wanted, it may, perhaps, be found behind the house, 
and next the fruit or vegetable garden. The beds thus cut in 
the turf may be of various shapes and sizes, but should always 
be bounded by curved lines. The grass-plots in which they 
are situated should be kept smoothly shaven. 

In arranging the plants in your beds, place the tallest in the 
center ; but very tall growers, like the hollyhocks and sun- 
flowers, should, in general, be disposed as a back-ground in 
borders next the walls. So arrange all the kinds that the 
smaller shall not be hidden or too much shaded by the larger, 
but all be seen in their order, and each contribute to the gen- 
eral effect. Eeference must also be had to colors and their 
proper combination. It is well, so far as is possible, to select 
plants which appear well through the season, whether in blos- 
som or not. A constant succession of flowers in each bed 
may be secured by commencing with the early flowering bulbs, 
following these with the best herbaceous perennials, and clos- 
ing with a good selection of annuals. 

Climbing plants of various kinds, both annual and perennial, 
if judiciously introduced, add greatly to the beauty of the 
grounds around a dwelling. Walls may be mantled with them ; 
doors and windows enwreathed ; any unsightly object hidden ; 
arbors covered ; and posts and the trunks of trees entwined. 
They may also be permitted to trail among the smaller shrubs — 
care being taken, of course, that they do not, in their luxuri- 
ance, overpower or hide other plants. Yarious kinds of sup- 
ports for climbers may be introduced into the portions of the 
yard devoted to trees and shrubs. The simplest of these is a 
single upright pillar of cedar or other durable wood in its 
rough bark, or a sawed piece of timber with holes bored 
through it at regular intervals, through which the leading 
shoots may be drawn as they advance in growth. Prairie 
roses, bignomas, and other hardy climbers, if skillfully trained, 
make a very handsome appearance on such pillars. Two 
climbing roses, of unlike colors, may be thus trained together 
with a fine effect. These posts should be nine or ten feet high- 



The Flo wee Garden. 147 

In some cases it is better to drive strong wooden rods through 
the holes we have spoken of, for the support of the climber. 
Slender climbers, like the cypress vine and the morning glory, 
require a lighter and more elegant support. 

In the arrangement of the shrubs and trees the same prin- 
ciple applies as to the herbaceous plants. "We should endeavor 
to produce the effect of banks, and irregular and picturesque 
conical masses of foliage, rising higher as they recede from the 
eye. "We therefore place the larger growing kinds in the back 
row, or in the center of a group, as the case may be ; some- 
what smaller ones next in order, and still smaller ones in front. 

III.— GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 

Our very limited space will not permit us to go into details 
in reference to the cultivation of flowers. "With a few general 
directions, however, one may get on very well in the manage- 
ment of a small flower garden. "What is most needed is some 
guide in the selection of plants to be cultivated ; and this we 
shall furnish in the next section. 

1. Soil, etc. — For most kinds of flowers a rather sandy soil, 
well enriched with vegetable mold and well-rotted stable man- 
ure, is the best. It must be thoroughly broken up or pulver- 
ized before planting. This is even more necessary here than 
in the kitchen garden. The ground should be dug to the depth 
of fifteen inches, and raised a few inches above the general 
level of the garden or yard. 

2. Annual and Biennial Plants. — Annual* and biennial! 
plants are in general very easy of cultivation, merely requir- 
ing, in a majority of cases, to be sown where they are to 
bloom, thinned out (with a few exceptions, which will be noted 
in their place) to give them room, and kept free from weeds. 

Never sow till the soil has become tolerably warm and dry, 
as some flower-seeds are very liable to rot in the ground. In 

* Annual plants are those which live but one year. 

| Biennial plants are such as endure two years ; blooming on the second. 



148 The Garden. 

this climate, from the middle of April to the first of May, i» 
ordinary seasons, will be sufficiently early for most of them. 
A little farther north, from the first to the middle of May will 
be the average time. The smaller seeds must be very lightly 
covered, but larger ones, like the lupines, may be covered to 
the depth of two inches. It is a good way to sow in small 
circles — say from four to nine inches in diameter. In the cen- 
ter of this circle place a tally, or label of some kind, with the 
name, to prevent mistakes. Soon after they come up, the soil 
must be carefully stirred, the plants thinned out, if they re- 
quire it, and all weeds removed. A few kinds do better with 
transplanting than to remain where they are sown. Of this 
nature are the balsams, the China aster, the marigold, the 
hibiscus, and the zinnia, and several other very free-growing 
plants. 

3. Bulbs. — The best season for planting hardy bulbous roots, 
such as the lilies, peonies, etc., is late in autumn, but they 
may be set out in December if the ground be not frozen, and 
the bulbs remain sound. 

" Hyacinths, Amaryllis, Martagon, and other large lilies, and 
peonies, should be planted at the depth of four inches ; Crown 
Imperials and Polyanthus Narcissus, five inches ; Tulips, Double 
Narcissus, Jonquilles, and Colchicums, three inches; Bulbous 
Iris, Crocus, Arums, small Fritillarias, Gladiolus Byzantium, 
and Snowdrops, two inches ; Ranunculus and Anemones, one 
inch ; always measuring from the top of the bulb. The roots 
should be placed from four to six inches apart, according to 
their size. 

" Take up bulbous roots about a month after the blossom is 
completely over, in the following manner : "When the plants 
put on a yellowish, decayed appearance, take up the roots, cut 
off the stem and foliage within an inch of the bulbs, but leave 
the fibers, etc., attached to them ; spread them in an airy room 
for two or three weeks to dry, after which wrap each root 
carefully in paper (as the ah- is very injurious to bulbs), or 
oover them in sand perfectly dry." 



The Flower Garden. 149 

4. Shrubs. — Flowering-shrubs may be planted out so soon 
as the frost is out and the ground sufficiently dry, which wiT- 
generally be in April. The same general directions apply as 
have already been given for trees. Tall shrubs should be sup- 
ported for a while by a stake. The roots must not be permit- 
ted to dry before planting ; and if they are to be carried to a 
distance, they must be kept from the air by means of moss, or 
straw mats bound about them. 

IV.— LISTS OF FLOWEKLNG PLANTS AND SHRUBS. 

We now proceed to give lists of choice herbaceous plants 
and flowering shrubs. "We might make our catalogues much 
more extensive, and still fail to embrace all that are desirable 
in particular localities and under particular circumstances. 
We trust that they will be found useful, if not wholly satis- 
factory, to the novice. For the professional gardener, of course, 
we do not write. 

HAEDT ANNUALS. 

1. Blue Flowered Aegeratttm (Argeratum Mexicanum). — Color, blue ; 
height, one foot : in bloom all the season. 

2. Sweet Alyssum (A. calyeina).— White : fragrant ; six inches ; all season. 
8. Love Lies Bleeding (Amaranthtts caudatus). — Bed and yellow ; sum. 

4. Prince's Feather {A. hypoc7wndriacus).—'Red ; summer. 

5. Theee-coloeed Amaranth {A. tricolor).— Is most beautiful on rather 
poor soil ; summer 

6. Pheasant's Eye (Adonis miniata). — Bed ; showy ; summer. 

7. China Astee (A. CMnensis). — Various colors ; some lately imported 
varieties are very beautiful ; eighteen inches ; summer. 

8. Cockscomb (Celosia cristata). — Crimson ; eighteen inches ; autumn. 

9. Sweet Sultan (Centaurea of species).— ( 0. moschata), purple ; (C. ero- 
tica), white ; (0. suaveolens), yellow ; two feet ; summer. 

10. Morning Gloey (Convolvulus major). — Various ; climbing ; summer 
•nd autumn. 

11. Dwarf Morning Glory (C. minor).— Blue ; eighteen inches ; summer. 

12. Chryseib(C. crocea).— Orange; one foot; all the season ; (C. Californica) 
yellow. 

13. Lupine (Lupinus of species). — Many varieties ; various ; one to flvo 
feet; some are perennial. 

14 Cypkess Vine (Ipomma of species). — (/. quamoclif), crimson ; (I. alba), 
white ; climbing ; summer and autumn. I. coccinea, a native Southern plant 
Is generally classed with the morning glories ; red ; climbing ; autumn. 



150 The Garden. 

15. Phlox (P. Drummondii).— Crimson ; rose, lilac, and white; (P. Van 
Ebutii), variegated ; two feet ; all the season. 

16. Zinnia (Z. elegans).— Various ; two feet ; very showy ; should be watered 
copiously ; all the season. 

17. Balsam, oe Ladies' Slipper (Balsamina hortentis).— Various ; two feet 
summer and autumn. 

IS. Mignonette (Reseda odorata).— Yellowish green ; six inches ; chiefly 
valued for its perfume ; all the season. 

19. Nasturtium (Tropozolum atrosanguinevm). — Crimson; climbing; in 
bloom all the season. 

20. Canary Bird Flower {T. aduncum). — A beautiful climber. 

21. Portulaoca (P. splendensJ.—Turple ; splendid ; (P. Thorburnii), yel- 
low ; (P. alba), white ; (P. elegans), crimson ; (P. Thellusonii), red ; should 
be grown in a mass to give the finest effect. 

22. Malope (M. grandifiora).— Scarlet and white ; three feet ; summer. 

23. Ten-week-stock (Mathiola annua). — At least a dozen distinct colors ; 
one foot ; summer. All the varieties are well worthy of cultivation. 

24. Marigold (Tagetes erecta). — Orange, yellow, straw-colored; eighteen 
inches; autumn. French Marigold (T. patula), striped with deep brown, 
purple, and yellow. 

25. Clarkia (C. elegans).— Pose-colored ; elegant; (C. Pulchella), purple; 
showy ; (O. alba), white ; one foot ; all the season. 

26. Candytuft (Iberis amara). — White; (/. umbellata), purple; (I. vie* 
lacea), violet ; (I. odorata), sweet-scented. All these species are desirable. 

27. Larkspur (Delphinum ajacis).— Many varieties, double flowered, and 
superb. Branching Larkspur (P. consolida), various colors ; summer. 

28. Three-colored Gilia ((?. tricolor). — Light-blue margin and dark cen- 
ter; dwarf; summer. 

29. Poppy (Papaver Marseillii). — White, edged with red ; eighteen inches ; 
summer. 

30. Swbet Pea (Lathyrus odoratus). — Many varieties — white, black, scarlet, 
and variegated ; three or four feet ; summer and autumn. 

31. Hibiscus (H. manihot).— Yellow; (PL Africanus major), buff, with a 
black center ; two feet ; summer. 

82. Clintonia (C. elegans).— Blue ; six inches; very slender; autumn. 

33. Verbena ( V. of species).— Every shade of color from white to crimson ; 
procumbent ; very pretty ; all the season. 

34. Dwarf Sunflower (Heliantlms CaUfornicus).—A double flower. 

85. Sun Love (ffeliophila araboides).— Blue; very pretty. 

86. Pansy ( Viola tricolor). — Various ; all the season. [A perennial, but 
treated as an annual.] 

87. Petunia (P. violacea).— Every variety of color; dwarf; all the season. 

88. Yellow Everlasting (Xerantheum of species) — Eighteen inches; ant. 

39. Evening Primrose (CEnothera macrocarpa). — Yellow ; large flowered 
dwarf; summer and autumn. 

40. Loasa (i. lateritia). — Orange colored ; a beautiful climbing plant. 

41. Calandeinia (O. discolor). — Rosy purple ; very fine ; sum. and autuma- 



The Flo wee Gasden. 151 

42. Calliopsis (C. bicolor).— Three feet; very showy; autumn. 

43. Maevel op Pkrtj (Mirabilis Jalapa). — Many varieties ; autumn. 

44. Geove Love {Nemophila maculata). — Spotted ; beautiful. 

45. Heliotbope (Tournefortiakeliotropioidea.')— White and blue; very fra« 
grant; autumn. 

46. Love-ik-a-Mist (NigeUa Damacena).— Showy ; autumn. 

For twelve sorts, the following would be a good selection : 
Numbers 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, 21, 23, 25, 33, and 37. To make 
up twenty sorts add 6, 11, 13, 16, 19, 22, 29, and 41. 

HAKDY BIENNIALS. 

1. Eose Campion (Agrostemma coronaria). — Blooms all summer. 

2, Foxglove (Digitalis of species). — Purple, white, and spotted. 

S. Canteebuey Bell (Campanula of species). — Various ; blooms in July 
and August. 

4. Hollyhock (Althea roesa.)— All its varieties ; summer and autumn. De- 
sirable varieties can be propagated by diviumg the roots. Biennial-perennia- 

5. Gebaedia (Q. of species).— Yellow, purple, and spotted. 

6. Dwaep Evening Pkimeose (CEnothera corymbosa). 

7. Humea (H. elegans).— All the season. 

8. Catch Fly (Silene multiftora). 

9. Musk-Scented Scabious (Scaliosa atropurpurea). 

10. Naked-Stemmed Poppy (Pa-paver nudicaule). 

Though all the biennials are generally propagated by seeds, 
the double ones may also be successfully continued by cuttings 
and slips of the tops, and by layers and pipings. Biennials, it 
should be remembered, never flower till the second year. 

HAEDT PERENNIALS.* 

1, HERBACEOUS PLANTS.t 

1. Columbine (Aqttil->gia -vulgaris). — Single and double, and many colors. 

2. Haeebell (Campanula of species). — All the species of this genus are 
very beautiful. Flowers single and double ; many colors. C. grandiflora 
has superb blue flowers. 

8. Cabnation (Dianthus oaryophyUus).—A much noted and very beautiful 
flower ; propagated by seeds and by layers. 

4. Sweet William (D. barbatuH).— Many colors and shades of color— white, 
red, pink, and crimson. The French call it Itoqwet parfait. 

* Perennial plants are those which endure from year to year indefinitely. 

+ Those which die down to the root every year. In a restricted sense (in 
which we use it here), the term herbaceous is not made to include the bulbous 
and tuberous rooted plants. 



152 The Gaeden. 

5. Pink (D. plumarius).— Many varieties. 

6. Chrysanthemum (Pyrethrum of species). — Varieties and colors numben 
less ; the last showy flower of the season. The following are all very beautiful 

LARGE FLOWERED. SMALL FLOWERED. 

Defiance— lemon-yellow. La Fiancee — white. 

Baron de Solomon— rosy-crimson. Harriette Lebois— rosy-carmine. 

Julia Langdale— rosy-purple. Cybelle- amber and gold. 

Liencour — lilac and orange. Mignonette— ;ose. 

Magnificent— blush. Vartigene— criaison. 

Mrs. Cope— crimson-purple. Paquerette — white-shaded crimson. 

Sphinx— bright claret. Sacramento— dark yellow, red center. 

White Perfection— pure white. Louise— pale rose. 

7. Double Daisy (Bellis perennis). — Many varieties and various shades of 
white, pink, and crimson. 

8. Dielytra (D. spectaoilis). — A very beautiful plant ; flowers pink and 
white ; June and July. 

9. Foxglove (Digitalis of species).— Various and beautiful. Theoretically 
a biennial ; but may be continued by dividing into off-sets. 

10. Gentian (Gentiana of species). — Blue, yellow, and white ; very showy. 

11. Geranium (Pelargonium of species). — Species numerous ; varieties num- 
berless. For bedding plants the Scarlet, the Nutmeg-scented (white), and the 
Eose are the most desirable. 

12. Forget-me-Not {Myosotis sylvaUca). — Blue, pretty, and indispensable. 

13. ITollyhook (Althea ro«a).—We have mentioned this among the bien- 
nials, where it theoretically belongs ; but it is practically a perennial, from the 
way in which it increases by off-sets. Hollyhocks are very beautiful in their 
proper places — in borders and among shrubbery. The varieties and colors 
are numberless. Choose the double-flowering sorts. 

14. Lupine (Lupinns of species).— Some of the perennial herbaceous sorts 
are very beautiful ; early in summer. 

15. Double Bagged Bobbin (Lychnis of species). — Scarlet and white. 

16. Pansy, or Heartsease ( Viola tricolor).— Varieties innumerable ; some- 
times treated as an annual ; blooms all the season. 

17. Violet ( Viola of species). — Many of the species, both native and foreign, 
deserve a place in the garden. Of V. odorata plena, the white and purple 
varieties are very beautiful ; bloom early. 

18. Phlox (P. of species).— Various colors ; no garden should be without 
some of the perennial species ; summer. 

19. Veronica (F. chamccdrys).— Blue flowers; a good border plant; early 
In summer. 

20. Valerian (V. hortensis el V. Pyrenaica). — White and red; grow and 
bloom well on walls and rock-work. 

Nearly all the foregoing plants are easily propagated by 
dividing the roots, and will grow in any garden soil. A few 
of them will not prove hardy north of New York 



The Flowee Garden. 153 

2. TUBEROUS-BOOTED PLANTS. 

1. Dahlia (P. variabilis).— Colors and varieties numberless ; a splendid 
autumn flower for large beds and among shrubbery. The following are a few 
of the finest varieties : 

Amazone— yellow, margined with carmine. 

Anna Maria — violet, tipped with white. 

Belle Amazone — bright yellow, edged with gold. 

Favorite — dark carmine. 

Gazelle— delicate blush. 

Grand Sultan— dark purple, with light edges. 

Emperitrice Eugenie— black brown. 

Madame Becker— maroon, tipped with white 

Malvina — purple, shaded with darker purple. 

Renuncale Imperiale — lilac and purple. 

Pretrose— dark carmine. 

Wonderful— dark yellow, with purple stripes. 

2. Ibis (71 of species).— More than fifty species, some of which are tuberous- 
rooted ; all very beautiful. /. susiana is the finest ; flowers large and spotted 
with brown. 

8. Mabvel op Pebu (Mirabilis Jalapa).— Generally treated as an annual 
very beautiful ; requires a warm border. 

4. Eveblasting Pea (Lathyms of species). — The common Everlasting Pea 
is L. latifolius. Once planted it will, for the most part, take care of itself, 
Some of the species are annuals. 

5. Peony (P. officinalis). — Many varieties. The Chinese Peony (P. fra- 
grans) has pinky-purple flowers and a rose-like perfume. 

6. Ranunculus (P. of species).— Several species are hardy and desirable for 
border-plants. The Double Buttercup (P. acris) is well known. 

7. Ladies' Slippeb (Qypripedium of species). — Several species are native! 
of our woods ; very beautiful, but difficult of propagation. 

8. Anemone {A. of species). — Many species ; white, purple, yellow, and scar- 
let ; succeed best in cool latitudes. Our native "Wood Anemone (-4. nemorosd) 
deserves mention among the garden flowers. 

The tuberous-rooted plants are propagated by tubers, and 
some of them also by seeds. Dahlias require a sandy soil. 
Sand and vegetable mold make a good mixture for them. No 
animal manure should ' 



8. BULB0U8-B0OTED PLANTS. 

1. Crocus (C. of species).— Many species, yellow, lilac, white, etc. Tho 
Yellow Crocus (G. luteus) is the greatest favorite. The Spring Flowering ((?. 
vernus) works in well among shrubs and trees, blooms early in the spring. 

2. Crown Imperial (Fritillaria Imperialis). — Color varies from light yel- 
low to orange red ; showy ; suitable for borders. 



154 



The Garden 



3. Hyacinth (ZTyatiiithus Orientalis).— Varieties innumerable; choose an 
assortment of various colors. 

4. Iris (1. of species).— Of the bulbous species, the Persian (/. Rersica) is 
the most beautiful, bnt does better in a pot or frame, with some protection. 

5. Lily (Lilium of species).— The species are very numerous, and all verj 
beautiful. The following is a selection : 

Common "White (L. candidum). 

Double White (L. candidum flore piano) 

Scarlet {L. chalcedonicum). 

Japan {L. lancifolium of var.)— white, red, rose, spotted ; very beautiful. 

Turk's Cap (L. martagon) — various. 

Tiger (L. tigrinum). 

6. Narcissus (N. tazetta).— Yellow and white variously combined ; varieties 
numerous. 

. Daffodil <N. pseudo narcissus).— Many varieties. 

8. Jonquil (Jf.jonquilla). — Bright yel. ; fragrant; requires copious watering. 

9. Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis). — Double and single; both desirable. 

10. Squill (Scilla of species).— Blue and white ; S. mncena and S. Siberica 
are exceedingly brilliant and beautiful ; blossom early in spring. 

11. Star of Bethlehem {Ornithogalum of species). — "White and variegated ; 
easy of cultivation. 

12. Tulip (Tulipa Gesneriana). — Varieties innumerable and of every shade. 
There are early and late sorts. Choose some of both. 



FLOWERING SHRUBS. 

1. Kose {Rosa of species).— Multitudinous in species and countless in variety^ 
No two persons would make the same selection. For the few sorts wanted in 
a common garden, we suggest the following : 



HYBRID PERPETUAL ROSES. 

Augusta Mie— blush. 

Geant des Battailles— brilliant crimson. 

Caroline de Sansal — flesh color. 

Lord Baglan — fiery crimson. 

Matharin Eegina — lilac. 

General Jaqueminot- crimson-scarlet. 

Mrs. Elliott— rosy-purple. 

Duchess d'Orleans — rosy-carmine. 

Baron Hallez— light crimson. 

Bydonie— light pink. 

Baron Prevost— deep rose. 

La Peine — deep rosy lilac. 

Louis Peronny — deep rose, shaded. 

PERPETUAL MOSS ROSES. 

Mndam Edward Ory— rosy carmine. 



Marie de Burgoyne— clear red. 
Salet— bright rosy red. 
General Drouot — purplish crimson. 
Perpetual White— pure white. 

SUMMER ROSES. 

Coupe de Hebe— brilliant piuk. 
Paul Eieaut — rosy crimson. 
Perle de Panche— white and red. 
Persian Yellow— deep golden yellow. 
Madame Plantier — pure white. 

CLIMBING R08KS. 

Queen of the Prairies— red, striped 

with white. 
Baltimore Belle— blush, nearly whita 
Mrs. novey— pale blush. 
Perpetual Pink— purple pint. 



The Flower Garden. 155 

2. Bhododendeon (S. Catawbiense). — This splendid American flowering 
shrub is worthy of a place in every garden. 

3. Azalia {A. vicosa et A. nudiflora). — "White and purple; fragrant; too 
much neglected. 

4. Flowering Almond (Amygdalms nana).— Beautiful pink flowers. 
Very desirable in every garden. Spring. 

5. Magnolia (M. abovata). 

6. Teee Peony (P. Moutan). 

7. Japan Quince {Pyrus Japonica of var.).— Scarlet and white ; very early 
n the spring. 

8. Japan Globe Flowee (Kerria Japonica).— Double yellow flowers. 
Showy. Spring. 

9. Spik-ea (S. of species). — Many very beautiful species. The Lance-Leaved 
Spiraea (S. laneolati) is the most beautiful of all. Flowers, white ; blooms in 
May. Very desirable indeed. 

10. Deutzia (D. gracilis et D. scabra).— Flowers white. D. scabra is the 
more hardy. Both should be cultivated where the climate will permit. 

11. Guelder Eose oe Snowball Tkee (Viburnum opulus). 

12. Garden Hydeangea (H. Hortensis ) — White flowers. 

13. Lilao (Syringia of species). —Some of the new varieties are very fine. 

14. Pomegbanate (firanatum flora pleno).— Beautiful; should be a favorite 
wherever the climate is sufficiently mild. 

15. Sweet Scented Shrub (Calycanthus Floridus). 

16. Althea oe Kobe op Sharon {Hibiscus Sy'icus).—Ma.VLj varieties. 

17. Hoitetsuckle (Lonicera of species). — Beautiful shrubs. 

18. Pink Mezekeum (Daphne, mezereum). — Dwarf, pretty ; flowers in March. 

19. Bose Acacia (liobina hispida). 

20. Mock Obange (Philadelphus coronarus). — White ; fragrant May ana 
June. 

21. Foesythia (F. i)ividissima).—A. magnificent new shrub from China; 
flowers bright yellow ; very early in spring. 

22. Crimson Cderant (Ribes sanguineum).— Single and double crimson; 
early in spring. 

23. Ashbeery (Mihonia aquifolia).— Evergreen ; bright yellow flowers. 
Dlossoms very early in spring. 

24. Eose-Colored Wiegela ( W. rosea).— Delicate rose-colored blossoms. 

25. Silver Bell (Halesia of species).— H. diptera is much finer than tho 
eommon Silver Bell (H. tetraptera). 

OLIMBEES AJSTD CEEEPEES. 

1. Virginia Creeper (Ampelopsis hederacea). 

2. Trumpet Flower (Tecoma radicals*). 

3. Clematis (C. of species).— Several species ; white, blue, and purple. The 
Sweet Scented (fi.flam.ula) is exceedingly fragrant. 

* Gray ; the Bignonia of the old botanists. 



156 The Garden. 

4. Ivy (Hedera of species). 

5. Honeysuckle (Lonicera of species).— The Sweet Scented (I. Belgfca) is 
one of the most desirable species ; in bloom through the summer ; very fra- 
grant. The Chinese Evergreen (If. sinensis) is also a very fine sort. 

6. Chinese "Wistaria (W. sinensis). — A very beautiful climbing 
blue flowers in clusters. 

7. Climbing Rose (Rosa of species).— For these, see preceding list. 

8. Jasmine (Jdtsminum revolutum). — Bright golden flowers ; very fragrant. 
Southern. Deserves a place in every garden at the South. 

9. Passion Flower (Passiflora of species) —The most beautiful one is the 
Purple Flowering (P. incarnata). 

10. Birthwort or Dutchman's Pipb (Arlstolockta sipho).— An excellent 
Mbor vine. 



Ornamental Trees and Shrubs. 157 



IX. 

IRNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS, 

Happy Is lie who In a country life 
Shuns more perplexing toil and jarring Btrife J 
Who lives upon the natal soil he loves, 
And Bits beneath his old ancestral groves. 




L-GENERAL HINTS. 
APPY indeed is he 

Who lives upon the natal soil he loves, 
And sits beneath his old ancestral grove* ; 

but this happiness is the lot of compara- 
tively few in this country. Our forefathers 
were too deeply absorbed in the work of hewing 
down forests to think of planting groves, or to ap- 
preciate their beauty. They waged a war of exter- 
mination against trees, and, so far as they went, 
nothing but blackened stumps and unsightly skeletons 
remained. The effects of their indiscriminate " clearing" have 
been partially remedied in the older portions of the country 
(for which more thanks to nature than to man) ; but even 
there the language of our motto applies to only a few. Each 
man's natal soil is in the hands of a stranger. "What American 
lives where his father and grandfather lived and died? "We 
have been a migratory people. It will not always be so, how- 
ever, and if we can not, except in rare cases, " sit beneath our 
old ancestral groves," we may yet sit beneath those of our own 
planting — may learn to 

Love our own cotemporary trees, 
and die with the hope that our children and grandchildren may 
enjoy their shade after we have ceased to need it. 



15S The Garden. 

The exhortation, " Plant trees! plant trees!" which has gone 
forth of late, and been so often reiterated, has not fallen upon 
heedless ears. Thousands have obeyed it, and tens of thou- 
sands stand ready, and only wait to be told what trees to plant, 
and how to plant them. 

For planting trees, we have already given such general direc- 
tions as the limits of our work would permit. With a careful 
attention to the fundamental principles set forth in the first and 
second chapters, these directions will be found sufficient. It 
remains for us to add a few hints on arrangement, etc., and to 
give lists of the most desirable species for common use, as 
ornamental and shade trees and shrubs. 

As a border for a straight road or street, we must, of neces- 
sity, have a straight row of trees, if any ; but in laying out the 
road or street, simple utility, and not beauty, was the end in 
view. In laying out ornamental grounds, straight lines and a 
geometrical arrangement of objects must be avoided ; and any 
necessary straight line, like a boundary fence, should be wholly 
or partially hidden, and its effect neutralized, by curving rows 
and irregular groups of trees and shrubs. 

This principle applies to the smallest village plot as well as 
to the extensive park. Something may be done in arrangement 
and grouping to produce a pleasing and beautiful or picturesque 
effect, in a very limited space. To tell the reader how, in 
detail, would require a volume. The hint we have just dropped 
will at least lead him to think and inquire. His own taste, 
once awakened, will do the rest. 

Do not, we beg of you, distort and deform your ornamental 
trees by trimming. If any accident or unnatural condition 
may have caused a tree to grow into an ungraceful and unnat- 
ural shape, you may, by a judicious use of the pruning-knife, 
aid it to return to its natural form ; but you can not improve a 
free-growing and symmetrical tree. If it put out branches near 
the ground, do not, by any means, remove them. Therein 
consists much of the beauty of many of our handsoirroet trees, 
especially the evergreens. 



Oenamental Tkees and Shbtjbs. 159 

Other tilings being equal, preference should be given to 
native trees and shrubs, and we have so many beautiful species 
that but few foreign ones need be placed on our lists. 

Trees taken from the nursery or forest before they can be 
used must be " heeled in" — that is, their roots must be placed 
in a trench prepared for the purpose, and covered with earth. 
Eoots left exposed to the sun and winds soon lose their vitality. 
Avoid the common error of too deep planting. The tree should 
be set only two or three inches deeper than it stood before, in 
the nursery or forest, to allow for the settling of the soil. 

II.— LISTS OF TREES AND 8HEUBS. 

Those who desire more extensive lists to select from than 
our space allows us to give, can readily obtain them from the 
nurserymen. Our object is to aid the novice in making a 
selection of a few kinds. 

LAEGE-GBOWING TEEES. 
DECIDUOUS.* 

1. Oak (Quercua of species).— Well known; indispensable in extensive 
grounds— especially the White Oak (Q. alia). 

2. American Elm (Ulmus Americana). 

8. Maple (Acer of species).— In an article condemnatory of the ailanthus, 
the lamented A. J. Downing says: "Take refuge, friends, in the American 
maples ; clean, sweet, cool, and umbrageous are the maples." For the Middle 
and Western States the Silver Maple (A. dasycarpum) is the best For the 
North and East the Sugar or Eock Maple (A. saccharimim) is better. The 
Bed Flowering (A. rubrum) and the Norway {A. platanoides) are beautiful 
trees, but of slower growth. 

4. Black Walnut (Juglans nigra).— Adapted to extensive grounds. 

5. Ash (Fraxinus Americana).— Fine to group with other trees. 

6. Hobse Chestnut (JEsculus of species). The White Flowering (2E. hip- 
po-castanum) and the Eed Flowering (M. rubicundo) are desirable. 

7. Tulip Tkee (Ziriodendron tulipifera).— Xofty and magnificent 

8. Cucumbee Teee (Magnolia acuminata).— A large, beautiful tree, with 
bluish-white flowers. All the magnolias are desirable where they will succeed. 
The most magnificent of them all (JU. grandiflora) will flourish only at the 
Bouth, where it is deservedly a favorite. 

9. Laeoh (Larirx, of species). — The European (L. Europea) is the best. Th« 

* Deciduous trees are those whose leaves fall in autumn— not evergreen)!. 



160 The Gaeden. 

American or Black Larch Tamarac (Z. Americana) resembles it, but growt 
only in very moist soils. 

10. American Cypbess (Taaodium disiictium). — Lofty and magnificent, 
but requires a moist, rich soil. For the Middle and Southern States. 

11. Catalpa (O. s ringcefolia). — Makes a large, round head, and large 
leaves and showy flowers. 

12. American White Biech (Betula alba).— A tall, slender, and beautiful 
tree ; has a fine effect for grouping. 

13. Honey Locust (Gladitsehia triacanthos).— Highly ornamenta. ; fine for 
lawns and for grouping. 

14. Paulownia (P. imperiaUs).— Rapid growing ; large-leaved ; large bine 
flowers in clusters ; blooms in June. Suitable for Middle and Southern States. 

15. Weeping Willow (Sileas Bubalonicum). 

EVEBGBEEN8. 

1. Spbuce {Abies of species). —The Hemlock Spruce (A. Canadensis) is ooo 
of the most beautiful of all evergreen trees. Fine for a lawn. The Norway 
Spruce (^4. eaccelsa) is also a stately and magnificent tree. 

8. White Pine ( Pinus strobus). 

3. Balsam Fik (Picea balsamea). 

4. Deodar Cedae (C. Deodnra). — Graceful and beautiful ; rapid growing ; 
not perfectly hardy at the North. 

5. Cedae of Lebanon (C Libani).— Scarcely hardy at the North, bnt ex- 
ceedingly desirable where it will succeed. 

6. American Abbob Vit^e {Thuja occidentalis). 

SMALL TEEE3 AND LARGE SHRUBS. 

DECIDUOUS. 

1. Weeping Ash (Fraorinus excelsior pendula). — Very graceful. 

2. Judas Tbee (Cercis Canadensis). 

8. Laburnum {Cytissus laburnum et C. Alpinus). 

4. Mountain Ash (Pyrus of species).— European and American. The 
Weeping Mountain Ash (P. aucuparia pendula) is a beautiful drooping va- 
riety of the European. 

5. Felnoe Tbee (Chionanlhus Yirginica).— Covered in spring with a pro- 
fusion of white flowers. 

6. Hawthorn (Crata>gus oxyacantha of var.). — White, scarlet, and rose- 
eolored flowers ; single and double. 

7. Magnolia (#. conspicua iH M. Soulangiana).— The first has white and 
Jhe second purple flowers. 

8. Burning Bush (Euonymous aimpurpureus). 

9. Labge Flowering Svringa (Philadelphus gratidifiorus). 

10. Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mascula). 

evergreens. 

1. Tree Box (Buaiie aborescens). 

2. Common Juniper (Juniperus communis). 



Ornamental Trees and Shrubs. 161 

8. Irish Yew (Taxus Eibernicus). 

4. Mountain Laurel (Kahnia lalifolia), 

5. American Holly (Ilex qpaca). - 

HEDGE PLANTS. 
DECIDUOUS. 

1. Osage Orange (Madura aurantiaca). 

2. Buckthorn (Rhamnus Cathariicus). 
8. Hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha). 

4. Althea or Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus Syriacuty 

5. Berberry (Berberis vulgaris). 

evergreens. 
1 American Aebob Vit^i (Thuja occidentaUs)- 

2. American Holly (Ilex opaca). 

8. Hemlock Spruce (Abies Canadensis). 

4. Norway Spruce (Abies exeelsa). 

5. White Cedab (Cupressus ihyoides). 

6. Holly-Leaved Beebebby (Mahonia aquifolia). 

7. Dwarf Box (Buxus 8uJpruticosa).—'FoT edging. 

8. Evebgeeen Thobn (Crataegus pyracantha).—Eor the South. 

3. Chebokee Rose (Rosa laevigata). — Southern. 

10. White Macartney Rose.— The best of all hedge plants for the South. 

Live hedges must gradually take the place of our unsightly 
fences in the older parts of the country, where timber is already 
scarce. On the prairies of the "West there seems to he no other 
resource. See " The Farm" for directions for their cultivation. 
Some of the foregoing hedge plants have not been well proved, 
but are all more or less perfectly adapted to the purpose. The 
Osage Orange seems as yet to be most generally approved. 

For further information on the culture of forest trees, for 
shade, for shelter, for timber, for fuel and for profit, see 
" Fuller's Forest Tree Culturist." And for the selection and 
management of ornamental, deciduous and evergreen trees, 
see "Elliot's Lawn and Shade Trees." Both published by 
Geo. E. Woodwaed, and sent post paid for $1.50 each. 



APPENDIX 



A. 

THE BEARING TEAE. 

This arises simply from the tendency in the apple, when left to itself, to beat 
go large crops one year as to require the next year to recover sufficient strength 
to bear again. This becomes a kind of fixed constitutional habit in a given 
variety, and is continued by grafting, so that whole orchards bear one year, and 
are unfruitful the next, with great regularity. On the other hand, certain sorts, 
like the Belle-fleur and Holland Pippin, which bear but moderate crops, in 
strong soils bear every year. 

The habit itself may be corrected or changed, when the tree or orchard is 
young, by picking off all the fruit that sets the first year the tree bears a good 
crop, thus forcing it to take its bearing year the next season.— ^1. J. Downing. 

B. 

CAUSE OF DIMINISHED FERTILITY. 
The first colonists of Virginia found a country the soil of which was nch in 
alkalies. Harvests of wheat and tobacco were obtained for a century from one 
and the same field, without the aid of manure ; but now whole districts are 
converted into unfruitful pasture laud, which without manure produces neither 
wheat nor tobacco. From every acre of this land there were removed in the 
space of one hundred years 1,200 lbs. of alkalies, in leaves, grain, and straw. 
It became unfruitful then because it was deprived of every particle of alkali 
which had been reduced to a soluble state, and because that which was ren- 
dered soluble again in the course of a year was not sufficient to supply the 
demands of the plants. . . . It is the greatest possible mistake to suppose 
that the temporary diminution of fertility in a soil is owing to the loss of vege- 
table mold. It is the mere consequence of the exhaustion of the alkalies.— 
Liebig. 

c. 

REMOVING LARGE TREES— "BALLING." 
Late in the autumn, dig a circular ditch at a distance of from two to five feet, 
according to its size, from the trunk of the tree, and from eighteen to thirty 
inches deep, smoothly cutting off all the lateral roots close to the central mass 
of earth. This ditch must be kept free from snow, until the inclosed ball con- 
taining the roots of the tree is thoroughly frozen. "With iron bars and leven 
force up this circular mass of earth, and place two or more strong skids under 
It. By means of a strong set of pulleys, with oxen attached, if necessary, the 



Appendix. 163 

mass of earth, and the tree altogether, must be drawn over the skids up out of 
the hole, upon a stone-boat or sled, the tree standing vertically, just as it grew. 
Thus loaded and secured, it may easily be drawn to the spot selected for it— 
George Jerques. 

r>. 

NEW VARIETIES OF THE POTATO FROM THE SEED. 

The plants from the seeds are about as hardy as tomatoes [and may be sown 
in the same way either in a hot-bed or in the open air. The former is the pref- 
erable way.] They should be hoed often, and dug early, or before the fall 
rains and cold nights. Some years they will grow large enough for the table, 
but are not fit to eat until three or four years old. 

Each hill should be dug by itself, and all small and unhealthy tubers thrown 
away, and the good ones labeled and put away carefully for another year's 
planting. Any plants that have been well cultivated, and only produce small 
tubers the first year, will never afterward ripen in season. 

The second planting will need care and close attention through its growth. 
Observe the time of flowering, and time of the decay of the vines, that when 
digging them you may have the history of every hill, for almost every hill is a 
family by itself. 

At this time many sorts can again be rejected, reserving only those thai 
promise good, or indicate the object in view. I threw away a great many 
varieties at every digging till the fourth year. I had but three families, all 
white skin and flesh, to which I gave the name of " Stone Hill," the quality of 
which has been well tested by use, as they have gone into almost every State 
in the Union, and have been exhibited at very many fairs, and always attracted 
notice, and a premium.— .4. B. Bulkeley. 

E. 

LUXURIES OF A FRUIT GARDEN. 

A friend of ours, in whose reliability we have implicit confidence, has n 
small plot of ground, of which he tells us the following facts : 

From a row of currant bushes, about eight rods long, he and his neighbors 
gathered over two bushels of currants this year. The currant season, from 
the first picking to the last, was, from June 1st to August 15th, two and a half 
months. 

From a row of gooseberry bushes, two rods long, he gathered about a bushel 
cf gooseberries. 

From a plot of strawberry vines, four rods long and one rod wide, he gath- 
ered nearly three bushels of strawberries. The strawberry season las A «d about 
three weeks, ending about the middle of July. 

Then his raspberries came on, and lasted about three weeks. Of these he had 
about half a bushel. They stood next to the strawberries in point of delicacy. 

He has a number of cherry-trees. They yielded well this year. His family ■ 
and friends used a bushel or so, and the children of the neighborhood fed 
themselves upon them, without s'int, for two weeks. 



164 Appendix. 

Soon after the raspberries were gone, his peaches began to ripen. One of the 
trees ripened its fruit late, and it has lasted till within a few days past ; of these 
he has had two or more bushels. 

All along since the first of August his apples and pears have been ripening, 
and have furnished an abundant supply for his family, for the cow and pig, and 
some to sell or give away besides. He will have a large quantity of excellent 
winter apples. He has just gathered from two or thre* grapevines as many 
bushels of fine grapes. Some of these his wife made into marmalade, and 
some she has preserved in paper, for use hereafter. The best— and greater 
portion of the whole — were eaten as a dessert, or given to children or friends, 
all of whom enjoyed them much. 

These are some of the enjoyments drawn from a small plot of ground during 
the season just closing. They were at small cost, but they sweetened many a 
meal, ministered to health, and added to the comfort of many guests. 

Why may not nearly every man have as large a plot of ground, and as many 
comforts ? Simply because he is negligent. — Ohio Farmer. 

P. 

HYACINTHS IN GLASSES. 
Hyacinths intended for glasses should be placed in them during October and 
November, the glasses being previously filled with pure water, bo that the bot- 
tom of the bulb may just touch the water ; then place them for the first ten 
days in a dark room, to promote the shooting of the roots, after which expose 
them to the sun and light as much as possible. They will blow, however, with- 
out any sun, but the color of the flowers will be inferior. The water should be 
changed as it becomes impure ; draw the roots entirely out of the glasses, rinse 
off the fibers in clean water, and wash the inside of the glass well. Care 
should be taken that the water does not freeze, as it would not only burst the 
glass, but cause the fibers to decay. Whether the water be hard or soft is not 
of much consequence— soft is preferable — but must be perfectly clear to show 
the fibers to advantage.— Thorium's Catalogue. 



INDEX 



TAGE 

Ashes. !.. 88 

Asparagus 89 

Apple. 114 

Apricot 127 

Annuals 149 

Bulbs 19 

Budding 63 

Beet 78 

Bean 81 

" Pole 82 

" Lima 83 

Borecole 86 

Broccoli 88 

Blackberry 136 

Biennials 151 

Bulbous Booted Plants 153 

Composts 89 

Crops, Eolation of 60 

Cuttings 62 

Carrot 78 

Cabbage 83 

" Savoy 85 

Cauliflower 86 

Chive 95 

Cress 96 

Celery 97 

Cucumber 100 

Corn Salad 100 

Cape Gooseberry 106 

Cherry 128 

Currant 133 

Climbing Plants 155 

Draining 82,44 

Exogen 20 

Endogen 20 

Endive 96 

Egg Plant 106 

Flowers 23 

" Annual 149 

" Biennial 151 

" Perennial 151 

" Tube-ous Booted 153 

" Bulbous Booted 153 

Flower Garden, Laying Out 145 

" " Cultivation of.... 147 

Fruit 24 

" Ripening of 24 

" Gardening Ill 

Food of Plants 25, 28 

Fencing 43 

Fixtures 48 

Forcing 52 

Frost, Protection from 57 

Fig 141 



FAQ» 

Garden, Situation of a - 41 

" Sizeofa 41 

" Shapeofa 41 

" Laying Out. 43 

Garlic 94 

Grape 130 

Grape Tines, How to Train 132 

Germination 13 

Growth, Conditions Essential to.. 27 

Guano 39 

Grafting 65 

Grafting "Wax 68 

Gooseberry 134 

Hot Beds 49 

Hoeing 57 

Horse Eadish 100 

Hedge Plants 161 

Implements 46 

" for Ladies 144 

Insects, Destruction of 58 

Indian Corn 104 

Leaves 21 

Lime 38 

Layers 61 

Leek 94 

Lettuce 95 

Lemon 130 

Lime, The 130 

Manures 86 

" Application of 51 

Marls 38 

Mulching 58 

" Potatoes 76 

" Treee 58 

Mustard 96 

Melon 102 

Mulberry 142 

Nectarine 126 

Onion 92 

" Top 93 

" Potato 93 

Okra 107 

Olive 129 

Orange 130 

Pits. 48 

" Sunk 48 

" "Walled ... 49 

Propagation 61 

Pruning 68 

Potato 73 

" Eot 75 

" Sweet 76 

Parsnep 79 

Pea 80 



166 



Index 



Pea, Sweet , 150 

" Everlasting 153 

Fea-Nut 83 

Pumpkin 102 

Peach 124 

" Trees, Pruning 126 

" " Heading-in 126 

" " Training 71 

Pomegranate 141 

Pepper 10T 

Parsley 109 

Plum 12T 

Perennials 151 

Quince 123 

Eoots 16 

Kadish 99 

Ehubarb 107 

Raspberry 134 

Seed-Leaves 16 

Stem 19 

Seeds 24 

" Sowing 58 

" Saving 60 

Soils 80 

" Improvement of 32 

" Depth of 84 

" Preparation of 44 

" Stirring 51 

Situation 41 

Subsoils 82 

Subsoil Plowing 45 

Stirring the Scil 51 

Sowing Seeds 58 



Suckers 61 

Slips 62 

Salsify 79 

Spinach 88 

" NewZealand 89 

Sea Kale 9C 

Shallot 93 

Shrubs 154-160 

" Listsof 154 

" Flowering 154 

Squash 103 

Sweet Herbs 109 

Sweet Potato 76 

Strawberry ?.36 

Trenching 44 

Trellises 50 

Transplanting 58 

Training 71 

Turnip 77 

Tomato 104 

Trees 157 

" Transplanting 54 

" "Washes for 113 

" Protection of, against Rabbits 1 13 

" Listsof 159 

" Large Growing 159 

" Small 160 

" Deciduous 159. 160 

" Evergreen 160 

Vegetable Marrow 103 

"Wheat, Analysis of 27 

Watering 6T 

"Water Melon 108 



THE FARM: 

A MANUAL 

OF 

radical %picnltnxt; 

OR, HOW TO CULTIVATE 

ALL THE FIELD CROPS: 



THOROUGH EXPOSITION Or THE NATURE AND ACTION OP SOILS AND MANURES 
THE PRINCIPLES OP ROTATION IN CROPPING ; DIRECTIONS FOE IRRIGATING, 
DRAINING, SUBBOILING, FENCING, AND PLANTING HEDGES ; DESCRIP- 
TIONS OF AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS; INST RUCTIONS IN THE 
CULTIVATION OF THE VARIOUS FIELD CROPS, ORCHARDS, 
ETC., ETC.; 

WITH A MOST VALUABLE 

By D. H. JACQUES, 

Author of " The Garden," " Tile House," " Domestic Animals," " How 
to do Business," "How to Behave," etc. 



To render agriculture more productive and beneficial to all, It la necessary that Its principles should 
be better understood, and that we should profit more from the experience of each other. 

Jodqk Bum.. 



DEVISED IE X> X T I O 23". 

NEW YORK: 
THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 

89 AND 41 CHAMBERS STREET. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 

GEO. K. WOODWARD, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for th« 
Southern District of New York. 



PREFACE. 



Believing that good books on farming can hardly be too greatly 
multiplied, and that a cheap manual, embodying not only compre- 
hensive practical directions for the cultivation of the various field 
crops, but also a brief exposition of the fundamental principles 
which underlie all the operations of the farm, is a special want 
at the present time, we have essayed, in the work now before the 
reader, to supply this lack. How well we have succeeded, we leave 
it for the public to judge. 

In the details of cultivation we have been intentionally brief, 
because we believed that the mass of those into whose hands this 
book would fall, stand less in need of these than of the information 
condensed into the first six or seven chapters. 

Having a correct notion of the fundamental principles of agri- 
cultural science, and with clear outlines of the common practical 
operations of farming before him, any intelligent man will readily, 
by means of observation and experience, make himself master of 
the minor details. Without the theoretical part, the rules of prac- 
tice laid down in most agricultural works are liable constantly to 
lead astray. 

In the preparation of this little book we have consulted a large 
number of the best agricultural works — American, English, French, 
and German— to some of which we have been largely indebted for 
facts and suggestions. In addition to the formal credit given in 
the body of the work, we take pleasure in mentioning the following 



vi Peefack. 

works as among those from which we have received more or less 
valuable aid : 

Stephens' Book of the Farm. 

The American Farmer's Encyclopedia. 

Allen's American Farm Book. 

Agricultural Reports of the Patent Office. 

Fessenden's Complete Farmer. 

Thaer's Principles of Agriculture and Manures. 

Beatty's Southern Agriculture. 

White's Gardening for the South. 

Norton's Scientific Agriculture. 

Dana's Muck Manual. 

Boussingault's Economie Rurale. 

Downing's Fruits and Fruit Trees. 

Munn's Practical Land Drainer. 

Tucker's Annual Register. 

Harris' Rural Annual. 

The Country Gentleman. 

The American Agriculturist. 

The Southern Cultivator. 
Hoping that his little book will aid largely, in its humble way, 
in the promotion of agricultural progress, and prepare the way for 
many a larger and better work, the author most respectfully dedi- 
tates it 

TO THE YOUNG FARMERS OF AMERICA. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Agriculture may be said to have had its origin when it waa 
ordained that man should earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. 
From that time to the present, among all nations and tribes of men, 
more or less attention has been given to the cultivation of the 
earth ; although in the earlier stages of social progress the prin- 
cipal reliance of mankind for subsistence has been first upon the 
chase, and then upon flocks and herds. Man is first a hunter, then 
a shepherd or herdsman, and then a farmer. 

Of the existence of agriculture as one of the prominent occupa- 
tions of the people among the ancient Israelites, we have many 
notices in the Bible. We gather from various scattered passages 
in the books of sacred history and prophecy that they had plows ; 
that they turned the soil up into ridges; that they plowed with 
two oxen ; that they sowed the seed broadcast from a basket and 
plowed it in ; that they used hoes or mattocks for extirpating the 
weeds ; that when the grain was ripe they cut it with a sickle or a 
scythe ; that it was bound into sheaves and carried in carts imme- 
diately to the threshing floor or to the barn ; that threshing was 
variously performed by means of a threshing-machine or instru- 
ment (Isaiah xviii. 27, 28), cart wheels, the treading of horses and 
cattle, and beating with poles ; and that the grain was winnowed 
by being thrown up against the wind by means of a shovel. 

Among the ancient Greeks, agriculture received great attention, 
and was evidently conducted with great skill and success ; in fact, 
it seems to have been much the same thing as at the present day, 
our superiority consisting more in the improved implements we use 
than in our better knowledge of the art and science of cultivation. 
1* 



viii Introduction. 

The Romans probably derived their knowledge of agriculture 
from the Greeks and other older nations, adding to it from their 
own experience. They well understood the nature of soils and th« 
use of manures, and practiced irrigation and underdraining. Th« 
Roman farmers, Pliny tells us, were very particular in drawing 
straight and equal-sized furrows. They always plowed three times 
at least before they sowed. The furrows in the first plowing were 
usually nine inches deep. 

In the early days of Rome, when they praised a good man they 
called him an agriculturist and a good husbandman ; and he was 
thought to be very greatly honored who was thus praised. 

The first of modern countries to improve the practice of agri- 
culture was Flanders ; and the Flemings or Belgians have con- 
tinued to this day the model farmers of Europe. Their whole 
country resembles a series of gardens. Their farms are small, and 
they devote their efforts to three grand points — the accumulation 
of manures, the destruction of weeds, and the frequent and deep 
pulverization of the soil. They were the first among the moderns 
to raise crops for the purpose of plowing them in. 

Nowhere at the present time is agriculture pursued with greater 
skill and success than in England ; and there is in that country a 
steady and continued progress both in the science and the art of 
cultivation. 

American agriculture commenced at the point which that of 
England had reached at the time her colonies were planted on the 
shores of the Western Continent. It has not kept pace, we are 
eorry to say, with that of the mother country. A virgin soil, 
abounding in all the elements of the highest fertility, and requir- 
ing at first but slight tillage to produce large crops, the abundance 
and cheapness of new lands, and the lack of persistent, steady 
effort, which soon became an American characteristic, led at once 
to a superficial and exhausting mode of cultivation which has re- 
sulted in reducing thousands of acres of once fertile soil to a bar- 
ren wilderness. 

But there has been a reaction. American husbandry is now 



Intkoduction. ix 

rapidly improving, and we shall not long be left behind by the 
leading agricultural nations of Europe. The old or exhaustive 
system is giving place to the new or fertilizing system, under which 
the productiveness of lands is constantly increased instead of being 
diminished. The worn-out lands of Virginia and the other old 
States have, in many instances, under the new system, been re- 
stored to more than their original fertility. This will go on 
till the older States will rival, if not excel, the new in productive- 
ness. 

The conditions requisite for the improvement of agriculture, and 
the elevation of the agriculturist to the high social position to 
which his contributions to the general welfare and the prosperity of 
the State entitle him, are thus happily stated by Hon. L. Chandler 
Ball, in a late agricultural address : 

" 1. By adopting a higher standard of education, both general 
and professional. 

" 2. By a more thorough cultivation of the soil, by which its fer- 
tility shall be increased, and permanently maintained. 

" 3. By the more general introduction of improved implements 
of husbandry, by which farm and household labor may be more 
easily and more economically performed. 

" 4. By improving the breeds of domestic stock, and rearing only 
those animals which are the best of their respective kinds. 

''5. By growing only those roots, grains, grasses, and fruits 
which are the most nutritious and the most productive. 

"6. By pursuing that particular branch of industry which gives 
the strongest probabilities of success ; having reference to climate, 
soil, markets, and amount of foreign and domestic competition. 

"7. By making the business of farming attractive to educated 
men, and the farm-house and all its surroundings pleasant to re- 
fined taste and cultivated manners." 

The extensive demand for books on farming, and the wide circu- 
lation of agricultural papers and magazines, show that " a redeem- 
ing spirit" is truly abroad among our farmers. The vast amount 
of sound agricultural teachings which is now being almost univer- 



x Introduction. 

sally diffused, can not fail to show itself everywhere in a rapid and 
permanent improvement of our system of cultivation. 

But much still remains to be done. Ignorance and prejudice are 
obstinately blind and deaf. There is much of both to be yet over- 
come. We send this little book out into the world to aid as it may 
in the work. 



CONTENTS. 



I.— SOILS. 

Importance of the Subject — The Organic and the Inorganic Parts of Soils- 
Origin of Each— Classification of Soils— Heavy Soils— Light Soils— Crops 
adapted to Each - Sandy Soils— Clayey Soils— Limy Soils— Loamy Soils- 
Marly Soils— Alluvial Soils— Vegetable Molds -Subsoils— Analysis of Soils 
—Professor Johnson's Tabular View— The Causes of Fertility and of Barren- 
ness— How to Ascertain the Per-centage of Sand in any Soil— A Test for 
Lime — Physical Properties of Soils— Texture— The Value of the impalpable 
Powder in Soils— A Mechanical Analysis— Consistency of Soils— Depth of 
Soil— Colors of Soils— Humidity— Influence of Subsoils— Position and Form 
«f Surface — Improvement of Soils— Management of Clayey Soils — Draining 
—The Addition of Sand, Lime, Plaster of Paris, etc.— Fall Plowing— Paring 
and Burning— Management of Sandy Soils— Vegetable or Peaty Soils— Man- 
agement of Subsoils - Subsoil Plowing— Benefits of Subsoiling Page IS 

H— MANURES. 

Necessity of Manures— "Why the Soil of a Forest does not become Exhausted- 
Exhaustion of Cultivated Soils— Decrease of Productiveness of the Soils of 
New York — Instructive Facts — Land, like Animals and Plants, must be 
Fed— Food of Plants— Organic and Inorganic Substances found in Plants— 
Both made up from their Food— Where Plants obtain their Food— What the 
Different Crops Take from the Soil- A Tabular View— Classification of Man- 
ures— Vegetable Manures— Green Crops as Manures— Advantages of Green 
Manures— Straw, Leaves, etc.— Sea-Weed— Composition of Sea- Weed— Cotton 
Seed — Turf— Swamp Muck — Great Value of Muck — Muck and Ashes— How to 
Compost Muck— Animal Manures— Stable Manures— Value of Urine— How to 
Preserve and Apply it— Waste of Manures by Fermentation — How to avoid it 
— Hog Manure— The Manure of Fowls — How to Treat it — Guano — Composition 
of Guano — Fish Manures — Night Soil — How to Preserve and Compost Night 
Soil— Flesh, Blood, etc., as Manures— Bones— Process of Dissolving Bones- 
Mineral Manures— Lime— Marls— Green Sand— Gypsum— Major Dickinson's 
Method of Applying Mineral Manures to Seeds— Common Salt— Other Salts 
—Ashes— Management of Manures— Fermentation— Overhauling Manures- 
Drawing Manure in Winter — A Caution in reference to Quicklime— Bury- 
ing Manure— Importance of Texture -Composts— Irrigation 36 



xii Contents. 

IE.— ROTATION OF CROPS. 

Theory of Rotations— The Three Grand Classes of Crops— The Grain Crop9 - 
The Eoot Crops— The Grass Crops— Systems of Rotation— Benefits of Rota- 
tion in Cropping — Astonishing Neglect of a Great Source of Profit.. Page 43 

IV.— DRAINING. 

Bad Effects of Excess ofMoisture-How Draining remedies them— Ten Reasons 
for Underdraining— Conditions Requiring Drainage— Practical Directions- 
Examination of the Field— Draining Springy Ground— Direction of Drains- 
Depth and Distance Apart — Digging — Implements- A Ditcher's Level — Ma- 
terials and Construction— Brush-Wood Drains- Stone Drains— Different 
kinds of Stone Drains— Tile Drains — Rationale of their Action — "Will Drain- 
ing Pay ?— A Farmer's Reply— Some Facts— Estimates— Economy of Tiles 51 

V.— FENCES. 
Requisites of a Good Fence— Various kinds of Fence — Stone Fence— The Zig- 
zag Fence— Posts and Rails— The best Wood for Posts— Board Fence- The 
Sunken Fence— The Wire Fence Illustrated— Cost of Wire Fence— Wire 
Netting— Hurdle Fence— Hedges— Causes of Failure in Cultivating Hedges 
— The best Hedge Plants— Directions for Planting and Trimming — Hedges 
for the South— How to Form a Hedge of Cherokee or Macartney Rose— A 
Hint or Two— Are Fences Necessary ?— No Fences in France, Belgium, etc. 
—The Ohio Farmer's Opinion CI 

VI.— AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS AND THEIR USE. 
The Plow— Ancient Plows— Modern Improvements— The Eagle Plow— The 
—Michigan Plow— The Double Mold-Board Plow— The Subsoil Plow -The 
Harrow- The Cultivator— The Horse Hoe-The Field Roller— Seed Sowers 
—The Horse Rake— Mowers, Reapers, etc.— Conclusion 78 

VII.-FARM MANAGEMENT. 

Introductory— Capital — Livestock — Implements— Seeds— Labor — Recapitula- 
tion of Estimates - Size of Farm— Laying Out Farms Fences— Gates— Build- 
ings — Choice of Implements— Choice of Animals — Soils and their Manage- 
ment—Manures—Rotation of Crops— Operations in Order of Time — Conclu- 
sion 82 

VIII.— FARM CROPS. 
Indian Corn— Wheat— Rye— The Oat— Barley— Rice -Buckwheat— Millet- 
How to Shock Grain— Potato— Sweet Potato— Turnip— Kohl Rabi— Carrot— 
Parsnep— Beel^Chinese Yam— The Grasses— Timothy— Meadow Grass- 
Red Top — The Fescue Grasses— Orchard Grass — Egyptian Grass— German 
Millet or Hungarian Grass — The Clovers — Other Grasses — Cotton — Sugar- 
cane — Chinese Sugar-Cane — Imphee — Broom Corn — Flax — Hemp — 
Hops 100 

IX.— THE ORCHARD. 
Laying Out Orchards— Squares— Quincunx— Soil and Situation— Planting- 
Cultivation— Profits of Apple Culture 14£ 



THE FARM 



soil: 



For th6 reaaon that a plant would die in a vacuum, for the same reasob It woulA die in a sol 
destitute of the bases necessary for ita organic constitution Xor to live is to com- 
bine, and without elements no combination would be possible. — Ra-spaH, 

I.— CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS. 




?%&*$* 




HEN selecting a farm, or when entering 
upon the cultivation of one already in 
possession, the farmer should, first of 
all, turn his attention to an investiga- 
tion of the various soils of which its surface is 
These form the basis of all his oper- 
ations ; and his success will depend in no small 
degree upon the skill with which he avails him- 
self of the capabilities and adaptations of each. He should be 
familiar with their several characteristics, understand the va- 
rious methods of improving them, and know to what crops 
each is best adapted. To aid him in this investigation is the 
object of this chapter. 

All soils adapted to agricultural purposes are composed of two 
classes of substances- -organic and inorganic. The inorganic 



VV V^A- 



14 The Fabm. 

parts are derived from the decay of animal, and vegetable mat- 
ter. There must have been a time, in the geological history of 
the earth, when the soil was destitute of these elements. A low 
grade of animal and vegetable life was possible without them. 
Living things found nourishment in the crumbled rocks, which 
formed the primitive soil. Enriched by their decay, it became 
capable of sustaining a higher order of existence. The result 
gradually attained, we see in the present condition of the earth's 
surface. 

The organic part of the soil is generally called vegetable 
mold, but scientific writers designate it as humus. To be fertile, 
a soil must contain a considerable portion of this organic mat- 
ter ; but we know of no rule by which to determine precisely 
what quantity is essential. Probably from five to ten per cent, 
must be present in all permanently rich, strong soils. 

Besides ministering directly to the growth of plants, by fur- 
nishing them with a portion of their necessary food, this vege- 
table mold or humus promotes fertility by improving the tex- 
ture of the soil, making sandy land more tenacious and clayey 
land more friable ; and by giving it a darker color, and thus 
increasing its power of absorbing heat. More than fifty per 
cent, of humus, however, in a moist soil has an injurious effect, 
rendering it what is called sour. 

"We have already hinted at the origin of the inorganic por- 
tions of the soil, in speaking of the crumbled rocks which nour- 
ished the first living things. The process of decomposition or 
crumbling down is still going on under our eyes. Some rocks 
crumble very slowly, others more rapidly ; but all wear away 
more or less. Each rock gives its own peculiar character to the 
soil which it forms. 

Of the various soils several distinct classifications may be 
made. It will be well for us, at the outset, to consider them 
all as embraced in two grand classes— heavy or light. The dis- 
tinction indicated by these terms is familiar to every farmer. 
He knows, too, that it is a predominance of clay which consti- 
tutes a soil heavy, and that an excess of sand or gravel makes a 



Soils. 15 

*oil what is called light. "We will look at these two classes of 
soils a little more in detail. 

1. Heavy Soils. — Heavy soils, also often denominated cold and 
wet, are distinguished for their affinity for water, their tenacity, 
their softness when wet, and their hardness when dry. They 
are comparatively difficult to cultivate, and require more skill and 
caution In their management than light soils ; but they are gen- 
erally fertile, and not easily exhausted. They not only hold 
securely the various solid manures applied to them, till they are 
required for the support of the growing crops, but greedily absorb 
the fertilizing gases brought within their reach by the air and 
the rains. They are admirably adapted to wheat, oats, Indian 
corn, and the various grasses ; hence they are sometimes styled 
grass lands. They of course exist in great diversity, and vary 
much in value, but are generally susceptible of being made 
highly productive. 

2. Light Soils. — Light soils are easily cultivated, friable, dry, 
and warm ; but their porousness facilitates the escape of both 
the water and the manure applied to them, and renders them 
liable to drouth and exhaustion. They are particularly adapted 
to rye, barley, buckwheat, and the tap-rooted plants. The 
English farmers sometimes distinguish them as turnip soils. 

Although soils contain small quantities of a large number of 
substances, they are chiefly made up of what are sometimes 
called the three primitive earths — silex (including sand and 
gravel), clay, and lime. As either of these predominates, it gives 
its peculiar character to the soil, whence we have the arrange- 
ment into three grand classes — siliciou3, argillaceous, and cal- 
careous, or, in other words, sandy, clayey, and limy soils. 

1. Sandy Soils. — A soil containing not less than seventy per 
cent, of sand may be considered sandy, in the sense in which 
the term is here used. 

2. Clayey Soils. — Clay with a mixture of not more than 
twenty per cent, of sand forms a clayey soil. 

3. Limy Soils. — Limy or calcareous soils are those in which 
lime, exceeding twenty per cent., becomes the distinguishing 



16 The Farm. 

characteristic. Cflcareous soils may be either calcareous clays, 
calcareous sands, or calcareous loams, according to the propor- 
tions of clay or sand that may be present in them. 

4. Loamy Soils. — Loamy soils are intermediate between those 
denominated sandy and those with predominant clayey charac- 
teristics. There are sandy loams, clayey loams, calcareous 
loams, and vegetable loams. 

5. Marly Soils. — Soils containing lime, but in which the pro- 
portion does not exceed 20 per cent., are sometimes called marly. 

6. A lluvial Soils. — Soils made up of the washings of streams 
are called alluvial. They contain portions of every kind of soil 
existing in the surrounding country, and are generally loamy 
and very fertile. 

7. Vegetable Mdds. — When decayed vegetable and animal 
matter or humus exists in so great a proportion as to give the 
predominant character to a soil, it sometimes receives the namo 
of vegetable mold. 

8. Subsoils. — The stratum or bed on which a soil immedi- 
ately rests is called the subsoil. Subsoils, like soils, may be 
either silicious, argillaceous, or calcareous. 

II.— ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 

Chemical analysis shows that the organic parts of a soil are 
composed of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen. The in- 
organic parts of a fertile soil, in addition to the silex, clay, and 
lime, of which we have already spoken, contain smaller quanti- 
ties of magnesia, potash, soda, sulphur, phosphorus, chlorine, 
oxyd of iron, and oxyd of manganese. All these are essential 
to independent fertility. 

It may be remaiked here, that while chemical science is a 
highly useful ally of agriculture, its decisions must, for the 
present, be held subject to reversal by practical experiments. 
This lack of perfect and universal reliability comes from the 
imperfection of the most careful analyses, and from the influ- 
ence of conditions of which chemistry can not take ^nizanoe ; 
and not from the unsoundness of chemical theori< el mak^ 



Soils. 



17 



Professor J. E. W. Johnson has given the follow ing tabular 
dew of the composition of soils of different degrees of fertility : 



IN ONE HUNDRED POUNDS. 


Fertile 


Fertile 


Very 




9.T 

64.S 

5.7 

5.9 

.9 

6.1 

.1 

.2 

.4 

.2 

.2 

.4 

4.0 

1.4 


5.0 

83.3 
5.1 
1.8 

3.'l 
.3 

.1 

.2 
.4 


4.0 
77.S 

9.1 
.4 
.1 


Silica 










8.1 




.1 






Soda 


.4 














100.0 


100.0 


10O.O 



The soil of which the composition is given in the first column 
contained all the elements required for the growth of plants, 
and so long as these remain unexhausted will produce good crops 
without manure.* Some of the alluvial soils of the "West are of 
this character. They will all he found to contain every one of 
these constituents. The proportions may vary in soils of equal 
fertility. This is immaterial, so long as there shall be a suf- 
ficient quantity of each to supply the wants of the crop. Tho 
soil the analysis of which is recorded in the second column lacked 
potash, soda, and chlorine. These are essential, and therefore 
the soil, in its natural condition, was barren ; but as these con- 
stituents are all supplied in considerable quantity by ordinary 
manuring, fertility was thus easily attained. In the third col- 
umn half the inorganic substances present in the first are en- 
tirely lacking, and two others — lime and magnesia — are greatly 
reduced in their proportion. No ordinary manuring would sup- 
ply all these deficiencies, and therefore the soil was, in a practi- 
cal point of view, hopelessly barren. 

Does not this illustration make the cause of fertility on the 



* See " The Garden," Chapter I. 



18 The Farm. 

one hand and of barrenness on the other perfectly obvious l 
Here it is in the compass of a nut shell. A soil is fertile (as a 
general rule) when it contains in sufficient quantity all the sub- 
stances which plants require, and barren when some of thesa 
substances are either entirely wanting or deficient in quantity. 
The exceptions to the first part of this rule are an unfavorable 
physical condition aud the presence of certain substances in 
hurtful excess. 

The time is coming when every farmer, thoroughly educated 
at an agricultural college, will possess both the knowledge and 
the apparatus necessary for making any required analysis of 
soils, but at present we must, in general, be content with the 
knowledge of their composition which we are able to obtain by 
a few simple processes. 

To ascertain the per-centage of sand which a soil may contain, 
dry a quantity thoroughly ; weigh it ; boil it in water ; stir it in 
a convenient vessel, and when the sand has settled pour off the 
liquid, which will hold the fine clay, etc., in suspension ; after 
doing this a few times nothing will remain in the bottom of the 
vessel but nearly pure sand, which may be dried and weighed, 
and the quantity will show whether the soil be sandy, loamy, or 
clayey. 

Any considerable quantity of lime in a soil is readily detected 
by pouring upon it a little muriatic acid, which may be obtained 
at any apothecary shop. So soon as this acid comes in contact 
with lime, if there be any, a brisk effervescence will take place, 
owing to the bubbling up and escape of carbonic acid gas. This 
simple test would save many a farmer from the expensive mis- 
take of applying lime to land which already contains a sufficient 
quantity of that important element of fertility. 

III.-PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SOILS. 

In judging of the value of a soil, the nature and proportions 
of the elements of which it is composed are not the only circum- 
stances to be considered. Its physical properties must also be 
taken into account. 



Soils. 19 

1, Texture of Soils. — Considered in reference to texture, a 
soil may be described as essentially a mixture of an impalpable 
powder with a greater or smaller quantity of visible particles 
of all sizes and shapes. Now, although the visible particles are 
absolutely essential, their effects are, as it were, indirect ; the 
impalpable powder alone exerting a direct influence upon 
vegetation, by entering into solution with the water and acid& 
with which it comes in contact ; for plants are incapable of 
talcing in solid matter however minutely dhided; and it is in a 
liquid or gaseous form only that their food can be received.* 
From this it will be readily understood how a, soil may possess 
all the elements of fertility and yet be barren, as stated in a pre- 
vious section, on account of some of these elements being locked 
up in it, as it were, in an insoluble condition. The stones and 
smaller visible portions of the soil are gradually but constantly 
crumbling down under the action of air, moisture, and other 
chemical agents, thus adding, from year to year, new impalpable 
matter to the soil. The greater the proportion of this impal- 
pable matter, all other things being equal, the greater will be 
the fertility of the soil. This proportion may be ascertained 
with considerable accuracy by the following simple experiment : 

" Take a glass tube about two feet long, closed at one end ; 
fill it about half full of water, and put into it a sufficient quantity 
of the soil to be examined to fill two or three inches of the tube 
at the bottom ; then put in a cork, and having shaken the tube 
well, to mix its contents thoroughly, set it in an upright position 
for the soil to settle. Now, as the largest particles are of course 
heaviest, they fall first, and form the undermost layer, and so on 
in regular gradation, the impalpable powder forming the upper 
stratum. By examining the various layers and noting their pro- 
portions you may make a very good mechanical analysis of soils." 

Soils must also be examined in reference to their consistency 
or tenacity, which is nothing more than the strength with which 
their molecules or particles are bound to each other by what is 

* See " The Garden," Chapter I. 



20 The Fakm. 

called, in the language of natural philosophy, the attraction ol 
cohesion. Clayey soils have the greatest degree of consistency, 
and sandy soils the least. Both extremes are unfavorable, a 
medium in this respect agreeing best with vegetation. 

2. Depth of Soil. — Another very important point is depth of 
soil. A deep soil has not only the advantage of giving the roots 
of plants a wider range and a greater mass of food, hut it retains 
moisture better in seasons of drouth, and is not so readily sat- 
urated in rainy weather. For the tap-rooted plants, such as 
beets, carrots, parsneps, etc., depth of soil is particularly im- 
portant. 

3. Colors of Soils. — Soils are of various colors — black, white, 
gray, yellow, red, etc., and the effects and indications of these 
hues are not to be disregarded in estimating the value of land 
for agricultural purposes. The brown and red soils are gener- 
ally best. They are termed warm, and are mostly loamy and 
fertile. Yellow and gray indicate clayey soils, which are cold in 
their nature. Black generally indicates peat or deep vegetable 
mold. Dark-colored earths absorb heat more rapidly than 
others, but they also allow it to escape with equal readiness. 

4. Humidity of Soils. — Too great moisture is not less injurious 
to a soil than extreme dryness. The proper medium should 
be sought, and where land is too wet, thorough underdraw- 
ing should be practiced. But more on this point in another 
chapter. 

5. Influence of Subsoils. — A subsoil of clay beneath a clayey 
soil is unfavorable ; but beneath a sandy soil it is beneficial, 
especially if deep plowing and subsoiling be resorted to, for the 
purpose of improving the latter. On the same principle a sandy 
or gravelly subsoil is desirable under clayey soils, as it permits 
the infiltration of any superabundant moisture, and may ameli- 
orate the soil by mixing with it. A calcareous or limy sub- 
soil is beneficial to both clayey and sandy soils. 

6. Position and Form of Stirface. — The position in which a 
piece of land lies and the form of its surface increases or detracts 
from its value according to its composition. Sandy soils are 



Soils. 21 

most fertile when flat and situated lower than the surrounding 
country. On the declivities of hills, such soil is of less value, 
as it is liable to become parched by drouths and washed away 
by rains. Clayey soils, on the contrary, especially where the 
subsoil is impermeable, are favorably situated when on a hill- 
side. Southern and eastern exposures are favorable to early 
vegetation, and in a cold climate or with a clayey soil are very 
desirable for many crops. 

IV.— IMPKOVEMENT OF SOILS 

Even the most valuable farms generally contain many acres 
which require considerable amelioration, aside from ordinary 
culture and manuring, to bring them into the highest state of 
fertility of which they are capable ; and the farmer should be 
well acquainted with the various means and methods to be 
made use of in improving each kind of soil. 

The means of ameliorating soils may be divided into two 
classes, mechanical and chemical. The former includes drain- 
ing, trenching, subsoil plowing, paring, the addition of various 
substances to improve texture, etc. ; the latter embraces the 
various kinds of manures. Practically, however, the two 
classes run into each other, the mechanical processes leading 
to chemical changes, and the addition of manures to mechanical 
improvement. 

To draining and manures, separate chapters will be devoted. 
We will speak here briefly of a few other means of improve- 
ment which should not be neglected. 

1. Improving Clayey Soils. — One of the principal defects of 
clayey soils, especially where they rest upon a subsoil of the 
same nature, is the excess of water which is held in them. The 
only effectual way, in a majority of cases, to get rid of this is 
by thorough underdraining. This draws off by imperceptible 
degrees all the excess of water and opens the soil to the tree 
admission of the air, which in its passage through it imparts 
warmth and such fertilizing gases as it may contain. Open 
drains or ditches, though less effectual, are useful. In some 



22 The Farm. 

cases " water furrows," terminating in some ravine or ditch, 
serve a very good purpose. 

To break the too great tenacity of clayey soils, sand seems to 
be the ingredient indicated ; but so large a quantity is required 
to produce the desired effect, that its application on a large 
scale is generally considered impracticable. Lime is exceed- 
ingly useful as an ameliorator of clayey soils, inducing chemical 
combinations the mechanical effect of which is to break up the 
too great tenacity of the clay, while it adds, at the same time, 
an element of fertility which may perhaps be wanting. Gyp- 
sum or plaster of Paris has the same effect in a still more power- 
ful degree. Ashes, coarse vegetable manures, straw, leaves, 
chips, etc., are also very useful, adding new materials to the soil 
and tending to separate its particles and destroy their strong co- 
hesion. In cold climates, plowing clayey lands in the fall, amd 
thus exposing them to the action of the frosts and snows, has a 
beneficial effect. At the South, where there is little frost, and 
frequent and heavy rains occur during the winter, the effect of 
fall plowing is very iujurious. Clayey lands must never be 
plowed when wet. 

Where a clayey soil rests upon a sandy subsoil its improve- 
ment is easier, as deep plowing, by which a portion of the sub- 
soil is turned up and mixed with the soil, soon modifies it very 
sensibly. 

In Europe, paring off the surface containing vegetable matter, 
drying, and burning it, and spreading the charred mass to which 
it is thus reduced upon the surface, to become again mixed 
with it, is frequently resorted to for the improvement of clayey 
soils ; but this process is too expensive to be generally applic- 
able in this country, where labor is so dear and land so cheap. 

2. Improving Sandy Soils. — Sandy soils require a treatment 
in most respects the reverse of that applied to clayey soils. Clay 
is the great ameliorator, and as the quantity required to produce 
a decided beneficial effect is not great, it may generally, when it 
can be obtained in the immediate neighborhood, be applied 
with profit. It should be thinly spread in the fall upon sward 



Soils. 23 

land previously plowed, so that the frosts of winter may act upon 
it and separate its particles. The land should he thoroughly 
harrowed in the spring and subsequently plowed, if necessary. 

Lime and gypsum, which render clayey soils more friable, in- 
crease the adhesiveness of sandy soils, and when cheaply ob- 
tained furnish a profitable dressing. Ashes may also be ap 
plied with great benefit, as may vegetable manures and vege- 
table mold. Sandy soils are plowed to the greatest advantage 
when wet, and are improved by the frequent use of a heavy 
roller. Pasturing sheep upon them is very beneficial. 

Gravelly soils (except calcareous gravels) are more difficult 
of improvement than sandy soils, and are most profitably ap- 
propriated to pasturage. Sheep will keep them in the most 
useful condition of which they are capable. 

3. Improvement of Vegetable Soils. — Soils composed mainly 
of humus or vegetable mold, such as are found on low, swampy 
levels, and sometimes called peaty soils, are generally, in their 
natural state, totally unfit for any profitable vegetation. When 
it is desirable to cultivate such a soil, the first process is to drain 
from it all the excess of water which it may contain. Then the 
hommocks, if any, must be cut off, dried, and burned, and the 
ashes spread over the surface ; after which sand, fine gravel, 
ashes, air-slacked lime, and barn-yard manure should be liber- 
ally added. These soils, thus ameliorated, make valuable grass 
lands, but require subsequent dressings of sand, lime, ashes, 
etc., as their fertility decreases. 

4. Management of Subsoils. — We have already spoken of the 
benefits resulting from mixing the soil and subsoil by deep plow- 
ing, in cases where they are of a different nature. To break up 
the subsoil and prepare it for mixing, and also to deepen soils 
and give the roots of plants a greater scope, a variety of sub- 
soil plows have been invented. In subsoil plowing a common 
plow goes first and is followed in the same furrow by the sub- 
soil plow, which thoroughly breaks up the subsoil to the depth 
of from twelve to sixteen inches, without displacing it. At 

5nt plowings portions of this subsoil are turned up by 



24 The Farm. 

allowing the common plow to run more deeply than before ; 
but care should be taken not to bring it up too rapidly or in toe 
large quantities. 

Besides allowing the roots of plants to penetrate more deep- 
ly in search of nutriment and moisture, subsoil plowing, by 
opening the stratum broken up to the action of the atmosphere, 
gradually prepares it to become an integral part of the soil, 
increases its warmth by making it a better conductor of heat, 
and renders it far less liable to suffer from drouth. This last 
point is particularly important, as subsoiled lands frequently 
produce excellent crops in seasons in which those subjected to 
common plowing alone fail to return even the seed deposited 
in them. Subsoil plowing should be repeated once in five or 
six years ; going each time a little deeper than before, till the 
greatest practical depth is attained. 

Subsoil plowing is not applicable, however, to all lands. 
Where the subsoil is loose and leachy, consisting of an excess of 
sand or gravel, it is not only unnecessary but positively injurious. 

The gradual mixing of the subsoil with the soil which results 
from subsoil plowing is especially beneficial to lands which 
have been for a long time under cultivation, and have become 
partially exhausted. A fresh supply of the inorganic elements 
is thus furnished for the nourishment of vegetation, and new 
avenues opened to those powerful agents of fertilizing decom- 
position, the air and the rains. 

"Where underdraining is required, it should precede the sub- 
soiling, and the surface of the drains should be sufficiently 
below the surface not to be disturbed by the subsoil plow. 

With the exception we have noted, where the subsoil is loose 
and leachy, subsoil plowing, though expensive, will most cer- 
tainly "pay," as experience has amply proved. 

The subject of improving soils will be continued in the next 
two chapters, under the heads of Manures and Draining. 



Manures. 



25 



II. 



MANURES, 



Manures, iu soma form, must be considered absolutely essential to sustaining soils subje 
to tillage.— Allen. 

I.-NECESSITY OF MANURES. 




PlHILE soils remain covered by unbroken for- 



-' ests, they not only retain their fertility, but 
actually grow richer and richer from year to 
notwithstanding the vast amount of nutritive 
matter annually absorbed by the roots of the grow- 
ing trees. Everything thus taken from them is ulti- 
mately returned with interest. The leaves and 
broken twigs, and eventually the branches, trunk, and roots, in 
their decay, give back not only what they received from the 
soil, but much, in addition, that they have elaborated from the 
atmosphere. We receive from the hands of nature no worn- 
out lands; but her system of tillage is very different from 
ours. 

The productive power of soils subjected to cultivation is grad- 
ually exhausted by the process. Some of the alluvial lands of 
Virginia produced large annual crops of corn and tobacco for 
more than a century, without any return being made to them 
for the elements of fertility abstracted; but these lands are now 
nearly valueless. The secondary " bottoms" of the Scioto and 



26 The Farm. 

Miami may retain an apparently undiminished fertility for a 
still longer period, but they must ultimately fail, and unless a 
system of cultivation radically different from that now pursued 
be adopted, become like the worn-out lands of some of the 
older portions of the country. Reliable statistical tables prove 
beyond a doubt that, notwithstanding our improved farm im- 
plements and superior methods of cultivation, the average 
yield, per acre, of the cultivated lands of the State of New York 
has decreased considerably since 1844, when the records on 
which these tables are founded were commenced. In corn the 
decrease is nearly four bushels per acre ; in wheat nearly two 
bushels ; and in potatoes, partly owing to the rot, no doubt, 
twenty-two and a half bushels. The falling off would have 
been still greater had not deeper tillage and better husbandry 
furnished a partial offset to the decreased fertility of the soil. 

These are instructive facts, and should cause the farmer to 
pause and reflect. 

The fruitfulness of a soil is decreased or increased according 
to inexorable laws. "With each crop that is taken from a plot 
of ground a greater or less amount of each of the elements of 
fertility — silex, potash, lime, soda, magnesia, chlorine, etc. — is 
necessarily removed. Another portion is lost in the process of 
cultivation independently of what is taken up by the plants. 
Continue this process year after year, and what must be the 
result ? Ultimate barrenness, of course. There is no remedy 
but to supply in the form of manures what is tbus taken away. 
The farmer must feed the land which feeds him and so many 
others, or in the end all must starve together. In the older 
portions of our country at least, the time has come when the 
importance of manuring should be more fully appreciated. 

II.— THE FOOD OF PLANTS. 

In burning a dried plant of any kind, we find that the great- 
er portion of it is dissipated in the process. Generally only 
from three to ten per cent, is left. This is in the form of ash 
or ashes. The portion driven off has evidently disappeared in 



Manures. 27 

the air, in a gaseous form. It is found by a method of analysis 
which we can not here stop to describe, that it was composed 
of four elements — carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. 
These are called the organic parts of plants. 

An analysis of the incombustible portion remaining shows 
it to be composed, as a general rule, of these ten substances — 
potash, soda, magnesia, lime, oxyd of iron, oxyd of manganese, 
silica, chlorine, sulphuric acid, and phosphoric acid. All these 
substances are generally present in our cultivated crops, but 
not invariably ; one or two of them being sometimes absent. 
In some species of plants one of these is wanting and in other 
species another, and the proportions vary greatly in different 
species of plants. Of these differences we shall have occasion 
to speak further under the head of rotation of crops. 

Both the organic and inorganic parts of plants are made up 
from their food, which must of course consist of both organic 
and inorganic materials. The former are obtained partly from 
the soil and partly from the air ; the latter come exclusively 
from the soil. A fertile soil must therefore contain, in sufficient 
quantity and in an available form, all the constituents of plants ; 
and to maintain its fertility under cultivation, these constituents 
must be supplied in the form of manures so fast as they are 
taken up by the crops produced. 

The food of plants, so far as it is derived from the soil, is all 
received through the roots in a state of solution ; and the roots 
have, to a certain extent, the power of selecting their food and 
of rejecting whatever would prove hurtful to the plant. Dele- 
terious agents brought in contact with them may, however, 
under certain circumstances, be take.a up by mere capillary at- 
traction, and the plant thereby poisoned. 

III.— WHAT THE DIFFERENT CEOPS TAKE FEOM THE SOIL. 

In examining the ash of the different cultivated plants, wo 
observe, as we have already hinted, great differences in the 
proportions in which the various elements exist. The ash from 
the stem or the leaves of a plant and from the seeds of the same 



28 



The Farm. 



plant also varies considerably. The following table gives the 
composition of our most common cultivated crops : 





Indian 

Corn. 


Wheat. 


Wheat 


Eye. 


Oats. 


Po- 


Tur- 


Hay. 


Carbonic acid 

Sulphuric acid 

Phosphoric acid . . 


a trace 
.5 
49.2 
0.3 
0.1 
17.5 
23.2 
8.8 
0.9 
0.1 
4.5 


1.0 

47.0 

a trace 

2.9 

15.9 

29.5 

a trace 

1.3 

a trace 

2.4 


1.0 
3.1 
06 
8.5 
5.0 
7.2 
0.3 
67.6 
1.0 
5.7 


1.5 
47.3 

2.9 
10.1 
32.8 
4.4 
0.2 
0.8 


10.5 
43.8 
0.3 
4.9 
9.9 
27.2 
27.2 
2.7 
0.4 
0.3 


10.4 
7.1 

11.8 
2.7 
1.8 
5.4 

51.5 
a trace 
8.6 
0.5 
0.7 


13.6 
7.6 
35 

13.6 
5.3 

42.0 
5.2 
7.9 
1.3 


2?7 
6.0 
2.6 

22.9 
5.7 

18.2 
2.3 

37.9 
1.7 




Magnesia 












100.0 


100.0 


100.0 


100.0 


100.0 


100.0 


100.0 


100.0 



With reference to the character of their ash, we may arrange 
these crops into three grand classes : 

1. The grains in which phosphoric acid predominates 

2. The roots in which potash and soda abound. 

3. The grasses in which lime is an important element. 

In straw and the stems of the grasses silica is abundant, con- 
stituting from one half to two thirds of the whole weight. The 
wood of trees gives an ash in which lime is a prominent ingre- 
dient. There are particularly large quantities in that of fruit- 
trees. 

The foregoing facts furnish hints toward a sound system of 
manuring, and show how important to the farmer is a knowledge 
of the composition and mode of action of the various manures. 

IV.— CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF MANURES. 
Manure, in the broadest sense of the word, is anything which 
added to the soil, either directly or indirectly, promotes the 
growth of plants. All manures might be considered under 
two heads- -organic and inorganic ; but it will better serve our 
present purpose to arrange them in three grand classes, veget- 
able, animal, and mineral. 

1. Vegetable Manures. 
Vegetable manures are not so energetic in their action a» 



Manures. 29 

those of animal or mineral origin, but their effects are more 
durable ; and the wise agriculturist will avail himself largely of 
the cheap means of ameliorating his soil which they afford. 

1. Green Crops. — Plowing in green crops, such as clover, 
spurry, sainfoin, buckwheat, cow-peas, turnips (sown thickly), 
Indian corn, etc., is one of the best modes of renovating and 
sustaining a soil. Worn-out-lands, unsalable at ten dollars 
an acre, have by this means, while steadily remunerating their 
proprietors by their returning crops for all the outlay of labor 
and money, been brought up in value to fifty dollars an acre. 

For the Northern States red clover has been found best fitted 
for a green manure ; but in particular cases some other crop 
may be used with greater advantage. At the South, the cow- 
pea (which is no pea, but a bean) is considered the best fertilizer. 
E. L. Allen, in the "American Farm Book," says, " The advan- 
tages of green manures consist mainly in the addition of organic 
matter which they make to the soil. The presence of this aids 
in the liberation of those mineral ingredients which are there 
locked up, and which, on being set free, act with so much ad- 
vantage to the crop. The roots also exert a power in effecting 
this decomposition, beyond any other known agents, either of 
nature or art. Their minute fibers are brought into contact 
with the elements of the soil and they act upon them with a 
force peculiar to themselves alone. Their agency is far more 
efficacious for this purpose than the intensest heat or strongest 
acids, persuading the elements to give up for their own use 
what is essential to their maturity and perfection. By sub- 
stituting a crop for a naked fallow, we have all the fibers of the 
roots throughout the field, aiding the decomposition which is 
slowly going forward in every soil. 

" Clover and most broad-leaved plants draw largely for their 
sustenance from the air, especially when aided by the appli- 
cation of gypsum. By its long tap roots, clover also draws 
much from the subsoil ; as all plants appropriate such saline 
substances as are necessary to their maturity, and which are 
brought to their roots in a state of solution, by the up-welling 



30 The Farm. 

moisture from beneath. This last is frequently a great source 
of improvement to the soil. The amount of carbon drawn 
from the air in the state of carbonic acid, and of ammonia and 
nitric acid, under favorable circumstances of soil and crop, is 
very great ; and when buried beneath the surface, all are saved 
and yield their fertility to the land ; while such vegetation as 
decays on the surface loses much of its value by evaporation 
and drainage. In the green state, fermentation is rapid, and 
by resolving the matter of plants into their elements, it fits the 
ground at once for a succeeding crop." 

The proper time to turn in most plants used as green manure 
is at the season of blossoming. 

The same effects follow the plowing of grass lands, and turn- 
ing under the turf; and the thicker and heavier the sward the 
better, since then a larger amount of organic matter in the form 
of roots is added to the soil. 

1. Straw, Leaves, etc. — Straw, leaves, hay are usually applied 
to the lands after they have either been worked over by ani- 
mals and mixed with their manures, or composted with other 
substances and decomposed ; but clayey soils are benefited by 
their application in an undecayed state. 

Potato tops or haulm; bean haulm; weeds, pulled before 
they have seeded, and all kinds of vegetable refuse, are readily 
decomposed by the addition of a small quantity of animal sub- 
stances or lime, and should be carefully composted. 

3. Sea-weed. — Sea-weed and pond-weed form valuable ma- 
nures. The former is particularly rich in the substances most 
needed by our crops, the ash containing, according to Professor 
Johnston, the following constituents and proportions : 

Potash and soda from 15 to 40 per cent. 



Lime 

Magnesia 

Common salt 

Phosphate of lime 

Sulphuric acid 

Silica 



8 " 21 
1 "15 
3 " 85 
8 " 10 
14 " 81 
1 " 11 



Farmers who live near the cast should embrace every op- 



Manures. 31 

portunity of getting it. It may be plowed in green or applied 
as a compost. In either case, it decomposes very rapidly, and 
its effects are immediately seen. 

4. Cotton Seed. — At the South, cotton seed is much used as a 
manure, and is very valuable for that purpose. It is applied at 
the rate of from eighty to a hundred bushels per acre. It may 
be sown broadcast and plowed in during the winter, when it 
will rot before spring, or it may be left in heaps to heat till its 
vitality is destroyed, when it may be thrown upon the corn 
hills and covered with the hoe or plow. 

5. Turf, Muck, Mud, etc. — Rich turf, full of the roots of the 
grasses and decayed vegetable matter, is valuable as an absorb- 
ent of animal or other manures in compost heaps. Mixing it with 
lime, and leaving it several weeks to decompose, is a good pre- 
paratory process. 

Swamp muck, pond mud, and the scourings of old ditches, 
are exceedingly rich in vegetable matter, and may as well be 
mentioned here as anywhere else. These are all exceedingly 
useful as manures ; but differ in richness according to the cir- 
cumstances under which they have been formed. When there 
is no outlet for the water and sediments, and the mud, besides 
containing a large proportion of salts, the result of ages of evap- 
oration, is the receptacle of the remains of myriads of minute 
shell-fish, animalcule, infusoria, and the spawn and exuvia of 
frogs and other occupants, the mud is especially valuable. Such 
reservoirs of vegetable nutrition are mines of wealth to the 
farmer, if judiciously applied. 

Dana, in his valuable "Muck Manual," says: 

" The salts of geine* in a cord of peat are equal to the ma- 
nure of one cow for three months. It is certainly very curious 
that Nature herself should have prepared a substance whose 
agricultural value approaches so near to cow-dung, the type of 
manures. Departing from cow-dung, and wandering through 



* Geine, in its agricultural sense, includes all the decomposed organic mat* 
ters of the soil. In some form it is absolutely essential to agriculture. 



32 The Farm. 

all the varieties of animal and vegetable manures, we land in a 
peat-bog. The substance under our feet is analyzed, and found 
to be cow-dung, without its musky breath of cow odor, or the 
power of generating ammonia, except some varieties of peat. 
The power of producing alkaline action on the in- 
soluble geine is alone wanting to make it equal to cow-dung." 

According to this statement, we have bat to add an alkali 
in the proper proportion, to produce a manure equally valu- 
able with cow-dung. From sixteen to twenty-four bushels, ac- 
cording to their strength, of wood ashes, or about sixty pounds 
of soda ash, will supply in full the lacking elements ; but as 
clear cow-dung may profitably be mixed with two parts of loam 
or muck, so two thirds of the alkali may be omitted from the 
muck mixture, to make it correspond with the cow-dung com- 
post. 

"The best plan," Dana says, "for preparing the artificial ma- 
nure, is to dig the peat in the fall, and mix it in the spring with 
eight bushels of common house ashes or twenty pounds of soda 
ash to every cord of muck, estimating the quantity when fresh 
dug, and making no allowance for shrinkage. If ashes be used, 
they may be mixed at once with the muck, but the soda ash 
should be dissolved in water and the heap evenly wet with it. 
In either case it must be well shoveled over. If leached or 
spent ashes be used, add one cord to three cords of the muck." 

The salt and lime mixture, described in another section, 
may be added to muck in the proportions of four bushels of the 
mixture to one cord of the muck, making a very effective ma- 
nure ; or the latter may be composted with stable manure or 
any animal matter found about the house or barn. 

2. Animal Manures. 

These comprise the flesh, blood, hair, bones, horns, excre- 
ments, etc., of animals. They contain more nitrogen than veg- 
etable manures, and are far more powerful. 

1. Stable Manures. — The standard manure of this country 
is that from the stable and barn-yard. The principal varieties 



Manures. 33 

we those of the ox, the cow, the horse, and the sheep. Of 
these, that of the horse is the most valuable in its fresh state, 
but is very liable, as ordinarily treated, to lose much of its value 
by fermentation ; that of the sheep comes next ; while that of 
the cow is placed at the bottom of the list, because the enrich- 
ing substance of her food goes principally to the formation of 
milk. That of the ox is better. The value of each of these 
manures varies also with the food and condition of the animals 
from whom it is obtained. 

The manure of any animal is richer than the food given to it, 
because it contains, in addition to the residuum of the food, cer- 
tain particles belonging to the body of the animal. The extent 
to which it is animalized depends upon the thoroughness of the 
digestion, fatness of the animal, and the drain made upon the 
elements of nutrition by the system. The manure of well-kept 
cattle, it is readily seen, is far more valuable than that from 
those which are barely kept alive. 

All the urine, as well as the solid excrements of animals, 
should be carefully preserved. It is very rich in nitrogen and 
the phosphates, and some writers on agriculture contend that 
its value, if properly preserved and applied, is greater than that 
of the dung. From an experiment made in Scotland, it appears 
that in five months each cow discharges urine which when ab- 
sorbed by loam furnishes manure enough of the richest quality 
and most durable effects for half an acre of ground. Think of 
this, ye American farmers, who are accustomed to allow so 
much of this richness to run to waste ! The urine of three cows 
for one year is worth more than a ton of guano, which would 
cost from fifty to sixty dollars ! Will you continue to waste 
urine and buy guano? Various methods of preserving and 
applying it will suggest themselves to the intelligent farmer. 
Stables may be so constructed that the liqiuid discharges of the 
cattle, together with the wash of the barn-yard, may be con- 
ducted to a tank or cistern, to be pumped out and applied di- 
rectly to the land, or absorbed by saw-dust, charcoal dust, turf, 
etc., and used in that form. If allowed to stand long in the 



34: The Faem. 

tank, in a liquid form, fermentation is liable to take place, and 
the ammonia to pass off; but a few pounds of plaster of Paris 
occasionally thrown in will cause the formation of the sulphate 
of ammonia, which will not evaporate. 

But the waste of manures is not confined to thos- of the 
liquid form. The solid excrements of the animals are often 
left to drain, bleach, or ferment, till the greater portion of their 
most valuable elements have disappeared. Stable manure* 
should be sheltered from the sun and rain, and fermenting heaps 
so covered with turf or loam as to prevent the escape of the fer- 
tilizing gases. Plaster, as in the case of urine, will aid in re- 
taining the ammonia. Boussingault, one of the most accurate 
of experimenters in agricultural chemistry, states that while 
the nitrogen in fresh horse-dung is two and seven tenths per 
cent., that in the fermented and dried dung is only one per cent. 
Horse-dung should be mixed at once with other manures, or 
with turf or loam, to retain its full value. The manure of sheep 
is strong and very active, and, next to that of the horse, is most 
liable to heat and decompose. 

2. Hog Manure. — The manure of swine is strong and valu- 
able. Swamp muck, weeds, straw, leaves, etc., should be thrown 
into the sty in liberal quantities, to be rooted over and mixed 
with the dung. In this way from five to ten loads of manuro 
per annum may be obtained from a single hog. 

3. The Manure of Fowls, etc. — The excrements of birds con- 
tain both the feces and urine combined, and are exceedingly 
rich in nitrogen and the phosphates. The manure of hens, 
turkeys, geese, ducks, and pigeons should be carefully collected 
and preserved. Do not think that because the quantity is 
small, it is hardly worth the trouble of collection. Professor 
Norton says that three or four hundred pounds of such ma- 
nure, that has not been exposed to the rain or sun, is equal in. 
value to from fourteen to eighteen loads of stable manure ! It 
may be kept dry, reduced to a powder, and applied as a top 
dressing, or formed into a compost with muck, turf, decayed 
leaves, charcoal dust, or other absorbents. If exposed to the 



Manures. 



35 



weather uncovered, much of its value is quickly destroyed. 
The custom adopted by some farmers of mixing the excrements 
of fowls with unleached ashes, quick-lime, etc., is not founded 
on correct principles, and inevitably deteriorates the manure. 

4. Guano. — Guano is formed from the excrements of sea- 
birds, mixed with the remains of the fish on which they prey, 
their own carcasses, and other animal matters. It is found in 
tropical latitudes, where it seldom rains, and where immense 
numbers of sea-birds have resorted for ages, to build their nests 
and rear their young. Here their excrements, etc., have accu- 
mulated till beds of from fifteen to thirty feet in thickness have 
in some instances been formed. Of its value as a manure there 
can be no doubt ; but circumstances must determine whether 
in any given case it can profitably be purchased and applied at 
the prices at which it is held. 

Professor Norton gives the composition of a few of the lead- 
ing varieties of guano as follows : 



VARIETY. 


Water, per 


Organic- Mat- 
ter and Am- 
moniacal Baits. 


Phosphates. 




5-7 

7-10 
10-13 
18-26 


56-64 
f.C-66 
50-56 
36-44 


25-29 
16-23 
22-30 
21-29 




Chilian 







The guano of commerce is often adulterated, and great cau- 
tion should be exercised in buying it. Tbat purchased directly 
from the agent in Peru, in New York, may, it is said, be relied 
upon as absolutely pure. 

In applying guano, care should be taken that it do not come 
in contact with any seed, as it might destroy its vitality. 

5. Fish Manures. — These are available near the sea-coast 
only, where they furnish an important source of fertility, which 
should not be neglected. The flesh of fish acts with great 
energy in hastening the growth of plants. It decomposes 
rapidly, and should be at once plowed under, or made into a 
well-covered compost heat. 

6. Night Soil. — From the analysis of Berzelius, the excre- 



36 The Farm. 

merits of a healthy man yielded — water, 733 ; albumen, 9 ; bile, 
9; mucilage, fat, and the animal matters, 167; saline matters, 
12; and undecomposed food, 70, in 1,000 parts. When freed 
from water, 1,000 parts left, of ash, 132; and this yielded — car- 
bonate of soda, 8 ; sulpbate of soda, with a little sulphate of 
potash and phosphate of soda, S ; phosphate of lime and mag- 
nesia, and a trace of gypsum, 100 ; silica, 16. 

Human urine, according to the same authority, gives in every 
1,000 parts — of water, 933 ; urea, 30.1 ; uric acid, 1; free acetic 
acid, lactate of ammonia, and inseparable animal matter, 17.1; 
mucus of the bladder, .3; sulphate of potash, 3.7; sulphate of 
soda, 3.2; phosphate of soda, 2.9; phosphate of ammonia, 1.6; 
common salt, 4.5; sal-ammoniac, 1.5; phosphates of lime and 
magnesia, with a trace of silica and of fluoride of calcium, 1.1. 

Urea is a solid product of urine, and, according to Prout, 
gives — of carbon, 19.99; oxygen, 26.63; hydrogen, 6.65 ; nitro- 
gen, 46.65, in 100 parts. The analyses of Wcehler and Liebig 
differ immaterially from this. Such are the materials, abound- 
ing in every ingredient that can minister to the production of 
plants, which are suffered to waste in the air, and taint its 
purity and healthfulness. Boussingault considers the excre- 
ments of a single man during a year sufficient to produce four- 
teen and a half bushels of wheat. 

Doubtless much of the waste of night-soil, which has been 
permitted in this country, has resulted from the offensive odor 
it imparts and the supposed difficulty of managing it. These 
difficulties are easily obviated in various ways. Allen, in 
his "American Farm Book," recommends that tight wooden 
boxes, with hooks on the outer side, to which a team may be at- 
tached for drawing them out, be placed under the privy. These 
boxes should have a layer of charcoal dust, charred peat, or 
plaster .of Paris at the bottom, and others successively as they 
become filled. These materials are cheap, compact, and read- 
ily combine with the volatile gases. Sulphuric acid is more 
efficient than either, but more expensive. Quick-lime will neu- 
tralize the odor, but it expels the enriching qualities; and if iL bo 



Manij-p-o-o. 37 

intended to use the night-soil, lime should never be mixed with 
it. Both the charcoal and peat condense and retain the gases 
in their pores, and the sulphuric acid of the gypsum leaves the 
lime, and like the free acid, combines with the ammonia, form- 
ing sulphate of ammonia, an inodorous and powerful fertilizer. 
Eaw peat, turf, dry tan-bark, saw-dust, and leached ashes are 
all good ; but as more bulk is needed to effect the object, their 
use is attended with greater inconvenience. From its great 
tendency to decompose, night soil should be immediately cov- 
ered with earth when exposed to the air. 

7. Flesh, Blood, Hair, etc. — Dead animals, the blood and of- 
fal from slaughter-houses, are among the most powerful of fer- 
tilizers — equal to guano and the other costly manures ; and yet 
it is not uncommon to see horses or cattle that die from disease 
drawn out into the wood to decay on the surface of the ground. 
Every animal that dies should be made into compost at once. 
Covered with a few inches of turf or loam, decomposition goes 
on without the loss of the fertilizing element, and a manure of 
the most valuable kind is produced. In large animals the flesh 
should be separated from the bones, and the latter be subjected 
to one of the processes described in the next section. 

Hair, woolen rags, leather shavings from the shoe-shops, and 
all other refuse animal matters, should be carefully preserved 
and composted, as they make very rich manure. 

8. Bones. — The value of bones as a manure is just beginning 
to be appreciated in this country. " They unite," Professor 
Norton says, " some of the most efficacious and desirable organic 
and inorganic manures." Boiled bones have lost most of their 
organic parts, but are still very valuable, being rich in phos- 
phate of lime. They are generally crushed to fine fragments 
in mills, and thus applied to the land. Another way of apply- 
ing them is in a state of solution, by sulphuric acid (oil of vit- 
riol). Professor Norton thus describes the process of dissolv- 
ing them : 

" To every hundred pounds of bones, from fifty to sixty pounds 
of the acid is taken ; or if bone-dust be used, from twenty-five to 



88 Tifi^\ "F\.rm. 

forty-five pounds of the acid will be sufficient. The acid must 
be diluted with three times its bulk of water. The bones are 
placed in a tub and a portion of the acid, previously diluted, 
poured upon them. After standing a day, another portion ot 
the acid may be poured on ; and finally the last on the third 
day, if they be not already dissolved. The mass should be 
often stirred. It will dissolve into a kind of paste, which may 
be mixed with twenty or thirty times its bulk of water, and 
applied to the land by means of an ordinary water cart; but a 
more convenient method, in most cases, is to thoroughly mix 
the pasty mass with a large quantity of coal ashes, earth, saw- 
dust, or charcoal dust. It can then be sown by hand or dropped 
from a drill machine. Two or three bushels of these dissolved 
bones, with half the usual quantity of yard manure, will be suf- 
ficient for an acre." 

Bones make a cheap as well as a rich manure, and no thought- 
ful farmer will suffer one to be wasted about his house. 

3. Mineral Manures. 

1. Lime. — Lime is applied to land in three different states — 
as quick-lime, slaked lime, and mild or air-slaked lime. To 
cold, stiff, newly drained land, especially if there exist in it 
much of acid organic compounds, it is best to apply quick-lime 
or caustic hydrate (slaked lime), as it will have a more energetic 
effect in ameliorating it. On light soils mild or air-slaked 
lime is considered most beneficial. It is best to apply lime 
frequently and in small quantities, so as to keep it near the sur- 
face and always active. 

Lime, as we have seen, is an essential ingredient in soil, being 
constantly needed by the plants in all their parts. It may always 
be added with profit wherever it does not already exist in suf- 
ficient quantity. 

2. Marls. — In true marl the principal element of fertility ia 
the lime which it contains ; but its value is increased by the 
greater or less proportion of magnesia and phosphoric acid 
which are usually combined with it. 



M-ANCJRES. 39 

A valuable mineral fertilizer generally called marl, but which 
contains comparatively little lime, abounds in parts of New 
Jersey and Delaware. Its predominant characteristic is a green 
granular mineral or sand. The carbonate of lime in shells, 
scattered through it, varies from ten to twenty per cent, in some 
specimens, while others are almost entirely destitute of it. The 
secret of its value lies chiefly in the from ten to twelve per cent, 
of potash which the best specimens contain. Magnesia is also 
often present. Its effects upon the light sandy soils of Few 
Jersey are very striking indeed. 

3. Gypsum. — Gypsum, or plaster of Paris, is a sulphate of 
lime, and has been found one of the cheapest and most power- 
ful fertilizers derived from the mineral kingdom. In reference 
to the manner in which plaster acts there has been some con- 
troversy among agricultural chemists ; some contending that it 
serves as a direct food of certain plants, while others maintain 
that its utility is due to its power of absorbing gases and hold- 
ing them in contact with the roots of plants. Late experiments 
seem to prove that it acts in both these modes. When scat- 
tered over compost heaps, it is known to absorb ammonia and 
prevent its escape. On grass lands it is best to sow it in damp 
weather or while the dew is on. Sow broadcast at the rate of 
a bushel to the acre. Seed potatoes may be wet and rolled in 
plaster before planting with decided advantage ; and we know 
of no better way of applying it to corn than to give the seed a 
coat before putting it in the ground. Hon. A. B. Dickenson's 
mode of applying plaster, lime, etc., is an excellent one. We 
insert his directions as given in one of his inimitable agricultu- 
ral addresses : "I will tell you how you can put a coat of tar 
over all kinds of seed as evenly as a painter could put a coat of 
paint over a board with his brush. An iron kettle is the best 
to mix the tar and water. Have sufficient boiling water to cut 
the tar ; mix it with the hot water; then pour in sufficient cold 
to make it near blood heat. Have sufficient water to stir what- 
ever grain you put in, that the water and tar may come into 
eontact with every part and particle ; it will then be coated 



40 The Farm. 

evenly and is ready to be taken out. Shovel it into a basket — 
for economy the basket may be placed over a tight barrel tc 
catch the water; us soon as it is done draining, throw into a 
tight box, wbere you can mix and put on whatever your soil 
lacks. If wheat or barley, you need not fear to apply lime and 
salt. If oats, corn, or buckwheat, plaster and salt. And on 
the soils of Yates County it would be beneficial to all of the 
above-named grains, to steep in strong brine over night. Every 
species of grass seed I sow with a heavy coat, and fasten as 
much plaster as possible, which draws moisture in a dry season, 
and prevents rotting in an excessively wet one, and I never fail 
to have my grass seed take well." 

4. Common Salt, etc. — Common salt or chloride of sodium 
has been in use for ages as a fertilizer, and its great value can 
not be disputed. As an ingredient in compost, it is of great 
service, and operates with an influence upon the soil which can 
be produced by no other stimulant, either mineral or vegetable. 
As to top dressing for grass lands — especially those of a loamy 
texture — it is invaluable. Mixed with wood ashes and lime, in 
the proportion of one bushel of salt to three of ashes and five 
of lime, it constitutes a very energetic manure for Indian com 
— producing an early and vigorous germination of the seed, and 
acting as an efficient protection against the ravages of the vari- 
ous insectivorous enemies by which the young plants are too 
frequently infested and destroyed. 

A very useful and energetic mixture is made by the following 
simple process : 

u Take three bushels of unslaked lime, dissolve a bushel of 
salt in as little water as will dissolve it, and slake the lime with 
it. If the lime will not take up all the brine at once — which it 
will if good and fresh burned — turn it over and let it lie a day 
and add a little move of the brine ; and so continue to do till it 
is all taken up." 

This mixture will supply plants with chlorine, lime, and soda, 
all of which are essential ; destroy the odor of putrefying animal 
matters, while it retains the ammonia, and promotes tho de- 



Manures. 



41 



composition of vegetable and animal matters in the soil or 
compost heap to which it may be applied. The farmer should 
keep a quantity of this mixture constantly on hand. 

Brine which has been used for salting meat or fish is still 
more valuable than that newly made, as it contains a portion 
o " blood and other animal matter. 

Whenever refuse nitrate of potash — that is, common salt- 
peter — or refuse liquid in which it has been dissolved for 
pickling meat, can be procured, it should be carefully preserved 
and mixed into a compost heap. 

There are various other salts which are valuable as manures, 
but the high price at which they are sold precludes their use 
in ordinary cases. 

5. AsTies. — Ashes, as we have seen, compose the entire inor- 
ganic parts of plants. Returned to the soil, they may again be 
taken up by the growing vegetation. Their great usefulness 
as a manure is evident and undisputed. The ashes from differ- 
ent trees differ materially in composition and value ; but all are 
highly useful applications to every kind of soil and crop. 
Johnston gives the composition of the ash from oak and beech 
as follows : 



PER-CENTAGE OP 


Oak. 


Beech. 




8.43 

5.64 

^0.02 " 

1.98 
4.49 
0.57 
3.46 
0.7S 

100.00 


15.83 

2.79 
0.23 

62.37 
2.31 

11.29 
0.79 
3.07 
1.32 

100.00 





















"Ashes," Allen observes, "are to the earthy part of vege- 
tables what milk is to the animal system, or barn-yard ma- 
nures to the entire crop ; they contain every element, and 
generally in the right proportions, to insure a full and rapid 
growth." 

Leached ashes have lost some of their value, being deprived 



42 The Fakm. 

of the greater portion of their potash and soda, but are still 
very useful as manures. 

Coal ashes are less valuable than wood ashes, but are by no 
means to be neglected by the farmer. 

Soot is exceedingly valuable as a manure, and the small 
quantity produced should be carefully saved. 

IV.— MANAGEMENT OF MANURES. 

Great skill and care are requisite in the management of 
manures, in order to preserve them from waste and secure their 
greatest efficiency. Some hints on this point have already been 
dropped in speaking of the different kinds of manure. We 
have room for only a few additional suggestions. 

1. Fermentation. — The comparative advantages of using fer- 
mented and unfermented manure is still under discussion among 
scientific agriculturists ; but that great loss takes place when 
manure ferments uncovered oy some absorbent of the fertilizing 
gases is clear to every observer and thinker. See to it, then, 
that all fermenting manure is covered with turf, muck, charcoal 
dust, saw-dust, or plaster, to take up and retain the ammoniacal 
gases as they arise. 

2. Digging over Manures. — The frequent digging over of 
barn-yard manure, practiced by some farmers, while it promotes 
decomposition, also leads to great waste. 

3. Hauling Manure in Winter. — The opinion is now gaining 
ground that when it can be conveniently done, the best way to 
secure to the land the greatest possible benefit from stable and 
barn-yard manure is to draw them at once, so fast as they are 
produced, to the fields where they are to be used, and either 
spread them at once or deposit them in heaps so small that no 
putrefactive fermentation will take place. In many cases, ma- 
nures may be hauled in the winter with great economy, as the 
labor of the teams and hands is in less demand elsewhere. A 
correspondent of one of our agricultural journals, who hauled 
and spread a part of his manure in the winter and a part imme- 
diately before planting, in May, says : 



Manures. 4:3 

"Where the manure was applied in the winter, the corn 
started earlier and continued ahead through the season ; it also 
yielded the heaviest growth and the largest, soundest ears. I 
have followed this plan at different times, and have always been 
pleased with the result. In hot weather, I plow the manure 
under immediately after spreading." 

4. A Caution. — Never mix quick-lime with any animal 
manure, as it will cause the escape of ammonia and greatly 
deteriorate the manure. 

5. Burying Manure. — Here again doctors disagree. Some 
advocate burying manure very deeply, others slightly, and still 
others would leave it upon the surface. The best general rule, 
we believe, is to mix it so thoroughly as possible with every 
part of the soil. The roots will then be sure to find it. A few 
crops — onions and some of the grasses, for instance — must find 
their nutriment near the surface, as the roots do not extend 
deeply ; for these a top dressing may be best. 

6. Importance of Texture. — J. J. Thomas, in an excellent 
article on the " Effective Action of Manures," says : 

"Far more important than the mere presence of fertilizing 
ingredients, or even the chemical condition of those ingredients, 
in many cases, is their mechanical texture and degree of pulver- 
ization. We have elsewhere given an instance, furnished by 
one of the most eminent scientific and practical cultivators of 
our country, where the complete crushing of the clods of an 
adhesive soil, and the grinding together with them into powder 
the manure applied to the land, produced an effect upon the 
subsequent crop ,/?«<? times as great as the ordinary operation of 
manure. How absurd it must be to make strict calculations on 
the result of a given quantity of yard manure, without ever 
inquiring into the mode of application — whether, on the one 
hand, by spreading in large, unbroken lumps, carelessly and 
imperfectly plowed under, and in a condition wholly useless for 
plants, or even detrimental in case of drouth — or, on the other, 
by a thorough harrowing of the soil and manure together, 
before turning under and a repetition of the operation when 



44 The Farm. 

necessary afterward for complete intermixture. We have 
known the most admirable results bj this practice, where 
nothing but fresh, coar«e manure could be obtained for succulent 
garden crops, and nearly a total failure under like circumstances 
without its performance. Even the time of year that manure 
has been carted on tbo land, has sometimes had an injurious 
bearing on the sur cesT of its application, simply by the packing 
and hardening resulting from traveling over it3 surface when 
in a wet and adhe3Jve condition. It is a perfectly self-evident 
truth, that a ir.ixfcire of unburned bricks and clods of manure, 
would afford immeasurably less sustenance to the fine and 
delicate fibers of growing plants, than the same mixture ground 
down together i*. to a fine powder. Hence it may be reasonably 
believed that the general introduction and free use of pulver- 
izers, as the most effective harrows, clod-crushers, and subsoilers, 
assisted by tile-draining, may be of greater benefit to the whole 
country than the importation of a million tons of guano." 

V.— COMP08T8. 

Composts of various kinds have already been recommended 
and described ; but a few words more : 

Let nothing tbat is capable, when decomposed, of furnishing 
nutriment to your growing crops be permitted to go to waste 
about your premises. A compost heap should be at hand to 
receive all decomposed refuse. The best basis for this heap 
is well-dried swam p muck ; but where this is not readily ob- 
tained, procure rich turf scraping from the roadside, leaves and 
surface soil from the wood lands and the sides of fences, straw, 
chips, corncobs, weeds, etc., aiding the decay of the coarser 
materials by the addition of urine or the lime and salt mixture 
mentioned in a previous section. Let this be composted with 
any animal matter found about the premises, or in the vicinity : 
the carcasses of all dead animals, large or small, offal of every 
kind, woolen rags, bones, old boots, shoes, and waste leather of 
every description, the droppings of the hen-roost, soap-suds, 
Bait, brine, all draiuings from the sink spout, slops from the 



Manures. 45 

chambers, and cleanings from the privy : let all go to the com- 
post heap. And whatever will not decay there, with sufficient 
rapidity, without assistance, aid its decay by the addition of 
such substances as will facilitate the object. Bones, leather, 
etc., may be softened so as to pulverize readi'y, by being packed 
in ashes and kept moist a few months ; and if the whole be 
sufficiently covered with muck during the process, there wDl be 
no loss of any element ; or they may be packed in an old cask 
in a strong solution of potash, or may be prepared with sulplmr- 
ic acid in the most scientific manner, and when thus prepared 
in either of these ways, will add greatly to the value of the 
compost heap. And if it still is not strong enough, add wood 
ashes to any extent, from one to ten or twelve bushels per cord. 

When thus prepared, our compost heap should be carefully 
worked over, thoroughly mixing all the different ingredients. 
It may then be applied to the soil in the same manner with 
that from the barn-cellar, or in any other way desirable. 

In addition to the foregoing general compost and the various 
special compounded manures already referred to, every farmer 
who has swamp muck or peat on his farm should compost it 
extensively with his stable manure; for it is believed, on the 
evidence of careful experiment, that two cords of compost pre- 
pared by mixing daily one cord of dry muck with the same 
quantity of the solid excrements of animals is fully equal, for all 
practical purposes, to two cords of the latter preserved and 
applied without the muck ; and also that two cords of compost, 
prepared by using that quantity of dry muck, to absorb all the 
liquid voided by the same animals, during the time required to 
obtain one cord of solid excrement, to be equal in value to two 
cords of the former compost. Thus we have four cords of equal 
value by this process, to every one cord obtained where the 
manure is thrown out of doors and left exposed to sun, wind, 
and rain, and all the liquid allowed to run to waste.* 

These are a few of the ways in which your stock of manures 

* W. Q-. Wyman, in Country Gentleman. 



46 The Fakm. 

may be greatly and cheaply increased. Your own experience, 
observation, and study will suggest others. 

VI.— IRRIGATION. 

Irrigation is manuring by means of water. "The manner of 
irrigating must depend on the situation of the surface and the 
supply of water. Sometimes, reservoirs are made for its recep- 
tion from rains or inundations ; and at others, they are collected 
at vast expense, from springs found by deep excavations, and 
led out by extensive subterraneous ditching. The usual source 
of supply, however, is from streams or rivulets, or copious 
springs, which discharge their water on elevated ground. The 
former are dammed up, to turn the water into ditches or aque- 
ducts, through which it is conducted to the fields, where it is 
divided into smaller rills, till it finally disappears. "When it is 
desirable to bring more water on to meadows than is required 
for saturating the ground, and its escape to fields below is to be 
avoided, other ditches should be made on the lower sides, to 
arrest and convey away the surplus water." 

Irrigation contributes to the growth of plants in several ways. 

1. It causes the deposit on the surface of the soil of more or 
less fertilizing matter brought from a distance by the stream ; 

2. It brings the gases — oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonic acid, to 
the roots of plants in different proportions from those in which 
they exist in the air (but if the water be permitted to remain 
stagnant on the surface this effect ceases) ; 3. It disposes the 
soil to those changes, both mechanical and chemical, which are 
essential to its greater fertility. 

" The advantages of irrigation are so manifest that they should 
never be neglected, when the means for securing them are 
within economical reach. To determine what economy in this 
case is, we have to estimate, from careful experiment, the equiv- 
alent needed in annual dressing with manures to produce the 
same amount of grass as would be gained by irrigation ; and to 
offset the cost of the manure, we must reckon the interest on 
the permanent fixtures of the dam and sluices, etc. 



Manures 47 

" The increase from the application of water is sometimes 
fourfold, when the soil, the season, and the water are all favor- 
able, and it is seldom less than doubled. Many fields which, 
in their natural condition, scarcely yield a bite of grass for 
cattle, when thoroughly irrigated will give a good growth for 
years, and without the aid of any manures. 

" Light, porous soils, and particularly gravels and sands, are 
the most benefited by irrigation. Tenacious and clay soils are 
bot slightly improved by it unless first made porous by under- 
draining. It is not only important that water be brought on 
to the ground, but it is almost equally important that it should 
pass off immediately after accomplishing the objects sought."* 

• B. u. Allen, in the "American Farm Book." 



48 



The Faem. 



III. 



ROTATION OF CROPS. 

H manuring Is the steam-engine which propols the vessel, rotation is the rudder which go 
ita Its progress.— J. J. Thomas. 

I.— THEORY OF EOTATION. 




HE following statements and illustrations of 
the principles on which rotation in cropping 
has its foundation, are condensed from Pro- 
fessor Norton's " Elements of Scientific 
Agriculture." 

" Suppose the farmer to have a soil which requires, 
U as almost all soils do, the application of manure to 
render it fertile. He adds a good coating of manure, and then 
takes off a crop of corn or wheat. This crop will carry away 
the largest part of the phosphates that were added in the 
manure. In most cases, therefore, a second crop of the same 
kind would not he so good as the first ; and the third would he 
still less. There yet remains, however, from the manure, 
considerable quantities of other substances, which the grain 
crops did not so particularly require, such as potash and soda. 
With this a good crop of potatoes, turnips, or beets may be 
obtained; and after this there is probably still enough lime, 
etc., left to produce an excellent crop of hay, if the ground be 
seeded down with another crop of grain of a lighter character 
than Indian corn or wheat. 



Rotation of Crops. 49 

"We perceive, then, that any good rotation mnst he founded 
upon the principle that different classes of crops require differ- 
ent proportions of the various substances which are present in 
6oils, and in the numerous fertilizers which are applied for the 
purpose of enriching them. Thus the crops may be made to 
succeed each other with the least possible injury to the soil, and 
with the greatest economy in the use of manures. 

It would be useless to recommend here any particular sys- 
tem of rotation as best; for that must be determined by experi- 
ence in each section of country, under the various circum- 
stances of climate, location, and value of crops. Attention 
may, however, be again called to the fact that there are several 
distinct classes of crops, considered with reference to the sub- 
stances which they take from the soil, and that these classes of 
crops should bear a part in every system of rotation. The 
principal of tbese are grain crops, root crops, and grass crops. 
See table and remarks in section 11 of the previous chapter. 

II.— BENEFITS OF ROTATION. 

J. J. Thomas, in speaking of rotation in cropping, says : 
" There are other very important requisites in good farming, 
but they are all accomplished with an increase of expenditure 
and labor. Manuring, for example, is a most powerful means 
for improvement ; but both manures and their application are 
expensive in proportion to the amount applied. Underdrain- 
ing has wrought wonderful results, but the cost is always a 
large item, and the same may be said in some degree of deep 
plowing and subsoiling. But in the arrangement of a rotation, 
no additional expenditure or labor is necessary ; it costs no more 
to cultivate crops which are made to succeed each other 
judiciously, than to cultivate those arranged in the worst man- 
ner possible. Tbe former may bring triple the successful results 
of the latter — not by the expenditure of five hundred extra 
days in drawing manure, or five hundred dollars' worth of ditch- 
ing, but simply by making a proper use of one's brains. 

" It seems surprising, under the circumstances, that so small 
3 



50 The Farm. 

a number seize the golden prize thus completely placed within 
their reach — that there are so few, even of those reckoned good 
farmers, who pursue anything like a systematic succession, to 
say nothing of such a rotation that shall accomplish its pecu- 
liarly beneficial results, namely, preservation of the riches of 
the soil, destruction of weeds, destruction of insects, and the 
most advantageous consumption by each successive crop of all 
the means for its growth within reach. As a consequence of 
this neglect, we see land overcropped with wheat, the soil 
worn out for this particular grain, and those troublesome weeds, 
chess and red-root, taking its place. We see pastures, left un- 
plowed for a long series of years, become filled with " butter- 
cups" and ox-eye daisy. A disproportion of spring crops facili- 
tates the spread of wild mustard, and among insects, grubs and 
wire worms increase according to the cultivation that favors 
their labors. It appears to be but little understood how great 
is the assistance to clean cultivation afforded by a good rotation. 
The best example of this sort we ever witnessed, where every 
field of the symmetrically laid-out farm, except a wet meadow, 
was brought under a regular, unvarying system, scarcely a 
weed was ever to be seen; and we ascertained that not one 
third of the labor usually expended was required for the hand 
dressing of hoed crops." 

For something more on this topic, see chapter on "Farm 
Management." 



Draining. 



IV. 

DRAINING 



Bone of out railroads should be known to pay thirty per cent, dividend annually, from 1U ng- 
«Ur earnings, and the stock could be bought at par, what a furious rush would be made for it 
Yet there is a way that farmers may invest in Btocks at home, on their own lands, that will pay 
thirty to iifty per ceut. yearly. This is in systematic tUe-draining. We have known many who 
have tried it, and they generally say that it is paid for by the increased crops in two years. 
They are good farmers, however.— Annual Register of Rural Affairs. 

There is not one farm out of every seventy-five in this State but needs draining— yes, much 
draining— to bring it into high cultivation.— Com. Report to N. T. Rtate Ag. Soc. 

I.— EFFECTS OF DRAINING. 




OME of the unfavorable effects of an excess 
of moisture in a soil have already been ad- 
verted to, and the proper remedy — thorough 
drainage — pointed out. Thorough drainage impli 
covered drains, and it is to the advantages of these 
mainly that we now desire to call the reader's atten- 
tion; although, as we have said in a previous chapter, open 
ditches and water-furrows are very useful in certain situations. 
The rain which falls upon a piece of land prepared with prop- 
erly constructed covered drains never remains to stagnate or to 
run over the surface, washing off the best of the soil, but sinks 
gradually down, yielding to the roots of plants any fertilizing 
matter which it may contain, and often washing out some 
hurtful substances. As it descends, air and consequently warmth 



52 The Farm. 

follow it. Under these new influences the proper decorapo 
sitions and preparations of compounds fit for the sustenance of 
plants go on, the soil is warm and sufficiently dry, and plauts 
flourish which formerly would never grow on it in perfection, 
if at all. It is a curious fact, too, that such soils resist drouth 
better than ever before. The reason is, that the plants are able 
'o send their roots much farther down in search of food with- 
out finding anything hurtful. Every part being penetrated by 
the air, and consequently dryer and lighter, these soils do not 
bake in summer, but remain mellow and porous. Such effects 
can not, in their full extent, be looked for in a stiff clay 
in a single season ; the change must be gradual, but it is 
sure.* 

The principal benefits of a system of covered drains are sue 
cinctly and clearly stated in the following — 

"ten reasons for underdrawing. 

"1. It prevents water which falls from resting on or near 
the surface, and renders the soil dry enough to be worked or 
plowed at all times. 

"2. By rendering the soil porous or spongy, it takes in water 
without flooding in time of rain, and gives it off again gradually 
in time of drouth. 

" 3. By preventing adhesion and assisting pulverization, it 
allows the roots to pass freely through all parts of the soil. 

" 4. By facilitating the mixture of manure through the pul- 
verized portions, it greatly increases its value and effect. 

" 5. It allows water falling on the surface to pass downward, 
carrying with it any fertilizing substances (as carbonic acid and 
ammonia), until they are arrested by the absorption of the soil. 

" 6. It abstracts in a similar manner the heat contained in 
falling rains, thus warming the soil, the water discharged by 
drain-mouths being many degrees colder than ordinary rains. 

'* 7. The increased porosity of the soil renders it a more per 

* Norton's " Elements of Agriculture." 



Draining. 53 

feet non-conductor of heat, and the roots of plants are less 
injured by freezing in winter. 

" 8. The same cause admits the entrance of air, facilitating 
the decomposition of enriching portions of the soil. 

" 9. By admitting early plowing, crops may be sown early, 
and an increased amount reaped in consequence. 

" 10. It economizes labor, by allowing the work to go on at 
all times without interruption from surplus water in spring, 
or from a hard-baked soil in summer."* 

II.-CONDITIONS REQUIRING DRAINAGE. 

The conditions from which arise the principal causes of mis- 
chief to undrained land are thus stated by Munn in "The 
Practical Land-Drainer :" 

"1. "Where water has accumulated beneath the surface and 
originated springs. 

"2. Where, from the close nature of the substrata, it can 
not pass freely downward, but accumulates and forms its level, 
or water-line, at a short distance below the surface ; and 

"3. "Where, from the clayey or close texture of the soil it 
lies on the surface and becomes stagnant." 

Farmers are apt to consider land in which the second condi- 
tion mentioned exists, to be too dry to need draining, yet it is 
cold and sour, late in spring, apt to bake hard in summer, and 
very liable to suffer from early frosts in autumn. There is no 
remedy but under draining. The necessity of this operation in 
the other two cases named is obvious. 

III.-PBACTICAL DIRECTIONS. 

1. Preliminary. — The first thing to be done is to examine 
the field to be drained and determine the plan of drainage best 
adapted to effect the object in view, and the materials which 
may most economically be used in constructing the drains. 

2. Braining Springy Soils. — "Where the wetness to be rem- 
edied results from springs having their source in higher grounds 

* "Annual Regi?*er of Rural Affairs." 



54 The Farm. 

above the field to be drained, the desired result is general!} 
attained by making one or more drains across the declivity 
about where the low grounds of the valley begin to form, thus 
intercepting or cutting off the springs. These transverse 
drains must be connected with others, made for the purpose 
of conveying the water collected in them into some brook, 
ravine, or other outlet which may be near. 

3. Direction of Drains. — In cases characterized by either of 
the other conditions specified in the previous section, parallel 
drains should be cut directly up and down the inclination of 
the feld, and emptying into a main cross drain at the lower 
side. 

4. Depth and Distance Apart. — In reference to depth and 
distance apart, differences of opinion and of practice prevail. 
Some cut their drains only about two and a half feet deep and 
from twelve to twenty feet apart, while others make them from 
three and a half to five feet deep and from thirty to fifty feet 
apart. The experience of seme of the most extensive drainers 
both in this country and in Europe seems to indicate, however, 
that for very heavy, clayey soils, from two and a half to three 
feet in depth and from twelve to thirty feet apart, generally 
produce the most satisfactory results. More porous and friable 
soils may be successfully drained at greater depth and distance. 

5. Digging. — Having marked out your drains at the distance 
apart decided upon, and got your tiles or other materials ready 
for laying down the ducts, you may begin to dig, commencing 
at the lower end, cutting the main drain into which the others 
are to empty, and then working upward on the parallel drains. 
Their dimensions must depend mainly upon the material to be 
used for the ducts. Where they are to be filled with broken 
stone or brush, they are made wider than where the small, oval 
tile, tube, or pipe is to be laid. Where tiles of any kind are 
to be used, their size must determine the width of the bottom 
of the drain. The top must be wider for convenience of dig* 
ging. A narrow spade and a peculiar hoe are necessary for 
digging and smoothing the bottom of the drain. There must 



Draining, 



55 




be a gradual fall, of course, from end to end, of which the 
regular flow of water will he a test. For the purpose of keep- 
ing a uniform grade of descent in cutting drains, a common 
mason's level will answer ; but the A or span level, represented 
by the accompanying cut, is 
better. Such a level may 
easily be constructed of 
wood. The span should be 
either sixteen feet six inches, 
or half that length. The 
two feet being placed on a 
perfectly level floor, the 
plumb-line will hang in the center, where a notch should be 
cut in the cross-bar. Then place a block of wood, exactly an 
inch thick, under one leg, and mark the place on the cross-bar 
that the plumb-line touches. Put a second block of one inch 
under the same leg, and mark the place of contact of the line 
with the bar as before, and so on so far as is necessary. Then 
mark the other side in the same way. When thus prepared, 
if the span of the level be sixteen feet and six inches, the 
plumb-line will indicate upon the bar, by the number of spaces 
at which it hangs from the center, the number of inches per 
rod of the descent. If its span be eight feet and three inches- 
it will, in the same way, indicate the number of inches of 
descent in half a rod.* 

6. Materials and Construction. — The ditch thus excavated 
must now be furnished with a permanent duct through which 
water may at all times freely pass off. This may be constructed 
of various substances — brushwood, straw, turf, clinkers from 
furnaces, wood, brick, stone, and tiles of burned clay. Of 
these, stone and tiles in their various forms, when they can be 
procured, are the only materials which we can unconditionally 
recommend. v 

Brushwood Drains. — "Where no better materials are avail- 



56 



The Farm. 



able these will be found, while they last, quite effective ; and 
they are far more permanent than might be supposed. An 
instance is recorded where they have been found after twenty 
years in as good condition apparently as when constructed. 
They are formed by laying down branches or brushwood in 
the bottom of the drain to form the duct for the passage of the 
water. The brush are put into the cutting in a slanting direc- 
tion with the descent of the ground, their root or large enda 
being toward the bottom. They should be trodden down and 
covered with inverted turf before filling in. 

Stone Drains. — In reference to their mode of construction, 
stone drains are of various kinds. The simplest form is that 
in which the ditch or cutting is filled, to the depth of nine or 
ten inches, with small stones, covered with inverted turf, shav- 
ings, or something 

^£^lfc^4l/2ss*0 of the kind. The 
stones should be 
about the size of a 
hen's egg. "Where 
larger ones are 
used, the earth is 
apt to fall into the 
^, cavities, or mice or 
S: rats make their 
burrows there, and 
the drain becomes 
choked. Some, 
howwver, make use 
of larger stones, 
merely covering them with a layer of small stones or gravel, 
before putting on the sod. When the stones are procured, 
whether in a natural state or broken, it is desirable to screen 
them in order to get them assorted as to size. The accompany- 
ing cut represents an excellent portable harp oi- screen for that 
purpose. Having filled the ditch to the required depth, and 
covered the surface carefully with inverted sods, the earth 




THE STONE SCREEN. 



Draining. 



57 





Fi»2. 



should be thrown in and trampled hard upon them. The water 
should find its way into 
the drain from the sides, 
and not from the top. 

The accompanying cuts 
represent other forms of 
stone drains, in which 
flat stones are used to 
form a regular and con- 
tinuous duct. A drain 
well constructed in either of these forms may he considered 
permanent. Where the 
earth is hard and the quan- 
tity of water is not large, the 
form represented by Fig. 4 is 
the best and cheapest in 
which a stone drain can be 
constructed. In making 
Fig- 3- stone drains in swampy or Fig. 4. 

very soft ground it is sometimes necessary to lay a plank oi 
slab on the bottom, before putting in the stones, to prevent 
them from sinking before the soil shall become dry enough to 
be firm. 

But in large portions of the country stones can not be pro- 
cured, and where they can be had, and require to be broken and 
screened, the expense is considerable ; and it is now found that, 
in many cases, tiles made of clay and burned are much cheaper. 
Tile Drains. — The first form of tile drain used was arched 
and made to rest on a sole or flat tile laid 
under it ; but the more modern tile pipes 
are to be preferred, as they are smaller, 





Fig. 5. 
cheaper, and more easily laid. 



Those with an oval bore (fig. 



Fig. 6. Fig. r. 

7) are considered better than those with a round one. 



The 




58 The Farm. 

tiles are, of course, placed in the bottom of the ditch, which 
must be smooth and straight. They are simply placed end to 
end and wedged a little with small stones, if necessary, and 
the earth packed hard over them. The water very readily 
finds its way in through the pores of the material and at the 
i joints. Collars or short outer tiles are 
' sometimes used to go over the joints, to 
secure them against getting displaced. 
An inch pipe is sufficient for most situa- 
tions. It may seem impossible for the 
water freely to reach a tile pipe with the 
mif jftjBjJj f earth packed close about it, especially 
Fig. 8. where the soil is clayey ; but practically 

no difficulty occurs. The portion of earth next the drain first 
dries ; and as it shrinks on drying, little cracks begin to radiate 
in every direction, and to spread until they penetrate the whole 
mass of the soil within their influence, allowing the superfluous 
oisture to pass off, and rendering the ground, in the course 
• a season or two, light, mellow, and wholesome for plants.* 
For main drains (where the parallel drains do not discharge 
directly into some open ditch, ravine, or brook, and the former 
are not constructed of stone or brick), two horse-shoe or arched 
tiles may be used, one inverted against the other. 

The drains should be connected at the upper end of the field 
by a small drain running at right angles with them. It should 
be of the same depth as the other drains. 

Where the ground is firm and the drain is made in the sum- 
mer, and when the length is not great, begin at the upper end 
to lay the tiles or put in the stones ; but where the ground is 
liable to fall down at the sides, the safest way is to build the 
conduit or duct immediately after the earth is taken out of the 
bottom.t 

IV.— WILL UNDEEDEAINING PAY? 
The Genesee Farmer thus answers this question: This de* 



Draining. 59 

pends on circumstances. If good naturally underdrained land 
can be obtained in your neigbborbood for from $15 to $20 per 
acre, it would not pay in all probability to expend $30 per acre 
iu underdraining low, wet, or springy land ; but in all districts 
wbere land is wortb $50 per acre, notbing can pay better tban 
to expend from $20 to $30 per acre injudicious underdraining. 
The labor of cultivation is much reduced, while the produce is 
generally increased one half, and is not unfrequently doubled ; 
and it must be remembered that the increase is net profit. If 
we get $15 worth of wheat from one acre and $20 worth from 
the other, and the expense of cultivation is $10 in both cases, 
the profit from the one is twice as much as from the other. 
That judicious underdraining will increase the crops one third, 
can not be doubted by any one who has witnessed its effects. 
If it should double the crops, as it often does, the profit would 
be four-fold." 

It has been remarked, that "to apply manure to undrained 
land, is to throw money away," an illustration of which is fur- 
nished by a statement in the Transactions of the New York 
State Agricultural Society, where seven acres of low, wet land, 
manured annually at the rate of 25 loads to the acre, produced 
31 bushels of oats per acre ; but after being thoroughly under- 
drained at a cost of about $60 for the whole, the first crop of 
oats without manure was 89J bushels per acre. 

Gov. Wright, in his address before the "Wayne County Agri- 
cultural Society, estimates the amount of marshy lands in Indi- 
ana at three million acres. These were generally avoided by 
early settlers as being comparatively worthless, but when 
drained they become eminently fertile. He says : " I know a 
farm of 160 acres that was sold five years ago for $500, that 
by the expenditure of less than $200, in draining and ditching, 
the present owner refuses now $3,000." 

No estimates of the cost of draining that we could give 
would be of much practical value. The character of the soil, 
the cost of the materials, the price of labor, and other circum- 
stances, must be taken into the account, and these vary so much 



60 



The Farm, 



in different localities that they can not he made the hasis of 
any useful general estimates. The following table, showing 
the number of tiles, of the different lengths made, which are 
required for an acre, will be useful to those who may desire to 
purchase just enough for a particular piece of ground. We 
extract it from Munn's "Practical Land-Drainer:" 



DISTANCE APART. 



Drains 12 feet apart require. 
" 15 » « . 



12-lnch 


13-Inch 


H-IncU 


15-Inch 


Tile«. 


Tiles. 


Tiles. 


Tiles. 


3,630 


3,351 


3,111 


2,9 4 


2,904 


2,681 


2,4S9 


2,323 


2,420 


2,2:34 


2,c74 


1,936 


2,074 


1,914 


1,777 


1.659 


1,815 


1,675 


1,556 


1,452 


1,613 


1,480 


1,3S3 


1,291 


1,452 


1,340 


1,245 


1,162 


1,320 


1,218 


1,131 


1,056 


1,210 


1,117 


1,037 


968 



In reference to tile-pipe drains, it must be remembered that 
the ditch may be much narrower than when stones are used, 
thus making a considerable saving in the expense of digging. 
The upper part of the earth is taken out with a common spade, 
and the lower part with one made quite narrow for the pur- 
pose, being only about four inches wide at the point. 



Fences. 



61 



V. 
FENCES. 




i an eye upon your fences !— Farmtr'i „ 



I.-BEQUISITES OF A GOOD FENCE. 



HE first essential in a farm fence is perfect 
efficiency as a barrier against such animals as 
it is desired to shut in or exclude. "Without 
this quality it is worse than useless. In the 
second place, it must be so cheap that its cost will not 
exceed, to say the least, the profit to be derived from 
its existence. Thirdly, it must not require too frequent 
renewal. It is desirable, also, that it occupy little space, and 
that it do not present an unsightly appearance. The best fence, 
therefore, for any given place and time, is the one which com- 
bines most perfectly all these qualities. In one place this may 
be stone fence, in another one of posts and rails, in a third a 
live hedge, etc. In one period of a country's history it may be 
made of logs, in another cf rails, m a third of growing Osage 
orange or holly, and in a fourth of wire. 

II.-VAEIOUS KINDS OF FENCE. 

1. Stone Fence. — AVherever there is plenty of stone, and 
especially where loose stones abound, and must be removed 
before the land can be properly cultivated, stone fences are the 



o 



62 The Farm. 

best and most economical that can be constructed. When well 
built, broad, and high, they are perfectly efficient and very 
permanent. In an esthetic point of view they are far less 
offensive to the eye of taste than our wooden fences, even of 
the least objectionable form. After a few years, as we judge 
from the sober livery of moss with which she decks them, 
Nature adopts these structures as her own, and they become a 
legitimate portion of the landscape. 

"Where stone is not very abundant, a combination of stone 
and rail fence is often economically constructed. A substantial 
foundation of stones is laid, reaching two or two and a half feet 
above ground, in which posts are placed at proper distances, 
with two or three bar holes above the wall, for the insertion 
of an equal number of rails, which for convenience should be 
put in when the posts are set. 

2. The Zig-zag or Worm Fence. — In large portions of our 
country, where there is a superabundance of timber, and econ- 
omy of space is of little importance, the common zig-zag or 
worm fence of the West and South is probably the most eco- 
nomical that can be erected. When well built, it is firm and 
durable, but unsightly and inconvenient, occupying a great deal 
of space, harboring vermin, and encouraging the growth of 
weeds and bushes. 

3. Post-and-Rail Fences. — As timber becomes somewhat 
more valuable, it ceases to be economical to use it so lavishly 
as the worm fence requires, and the post-and-rail fence takes 
its place. This is, in many respects, the best of all the wooden 
farm fences. 

" The posts," Allen says, " should be placed from two and a 
half to three feet below the surface, in the center of a large 
dole and surrounded by fine stone, which must be well pourded 
down by a heavy, iron-shod rammer, as they are filled in. The 
post will not stand so firmly at first as if surrounded by uirt, 
out it will last much longer. The lower end should be pun red, 
which prevents its heaving with the frost. If the position of 
Uae post while in the tree be reversed, or the upper end of the 



Fences. 63 

split section of the trunk which is used for a post, he placed in 
the earth, it will be more durable. Charring or partially burn 
ing the part of the post which is buried, will add to its dura- 
tion. So also will imbedding it in ashes, lime, charcoal, of 
clay ; or it may be bored at the surface with a large auger, 
diagonally downward and nearly through, then filled with salt, 
and closely plugged. 

" The best timber for posts, in the order of its durability, is 
red cedar, yellow locust, white oak and chestnut, for the 
Northern and Middle States. I recently saw red cedar posts 
in use for a porch which, I was assured, had been standing 
exposed to the weather previous to the Eevolution, a period of 
over 70 years, and they were still perfectly sound. The avidity 
with which silicious sands and gravel act upon wood, renders 
a post fence expensive for such soils."* 

In some cases, boards may be economically substituted for 
rails, and firmly nailed to suitably prepared posts. 

4. The Sunken Fence. — The sunken fence or wall consists of 
" a vertical excavation on one side, about five feet in depth, 
against which a wall is built to the surface of the ground. The 
opposite side is inclined at such an angle as will preserve the 
sod against sliding, from the effects of frost or rain, and is then 
turfed over. A farm thus divided presents no obstruction to 
the view, where it is everywhere properly walled in, besides 
affording good ditches for the drainage of water." Such a 
fence, properly constructed, might be considered absolutely 
permanent ; and it would scarcely need repairing at all. 

5. Iron Fences. — Wire and other forms of iron fence are 
coming into extensive use in some portions of the country. 
"Where there is a deficiency of both timber and stone, the wire 
fence is probably the best and most economical that can be 
made. With the improvements lately introduced, especially 
those made by the New York Wire Bailing Company, these 
fences are entirely efficient, and in every way satisfactory. 

* The " American Farm Book." 



64 



The Faem. 



The fences are made with horizontal wires, tightened hy 
means of an effective arrangement, so that the whole tension 
of the rod is obtained. The posts are furnished with contriv- 
ances of different patterns for security in the ground. The size 
of the rods varies in accordance with the uses for which the 
fence is designed. No ordinary domestic animal will break 
through fences of considerably less than i-inch wrought wire, 
while still larger sizes may be used with the same facility if 
required. The bright or hard wire is now generally used.* 




WIRE FENCE, WITH WOODEN POSTS. 



f We are indebted for the accompanying illustrations of wire fences to the 
Descriptive Catalogue of the New York Wire Railing Company. John B. 
Wickersham, Superintendent. 

t As it may be useful to some of our readers, we give the prices per rod at 
which this fence may be procured (packed and shipped) at the warehouse of 
the New York Iron Railing Company, in New York. 

For cattle and horses, S wires, with iron posts and screws $1 06 

" " 4 " '• « " 1 84 

" " « 5 " " « « 2 no 

" Hogs, sheep, etc 7 " " " " 2 40 

a Turkeys, geese, etc. 10 " " " " 8 00 

Each additional wire, 20 cents per rod. 



Fences. 



65 



The accompanying cut exhibits the natural size of the wires 
most commonly used for farm fences, and shows the manner in 




which they pass through and support the post and are supported 
by it. The following are the manufacturer's directions for 
putting up the fence : 

" It is absolutely necessary that the straining pillar, or start- 
ing post, of wood or iron, at the extreme ends of the fence, 
should be perfectly firm, as the wires can not otherwise be 
made tigbt. Commencing from a tree is recommended, if pos- 
sible. Plant the posts 12 feet apart, hook in the rails, and at 
the distance of 150 feet place a screw on each wire. Place the 
next set of screws at the distance of 300 feet, and so continue.' 




WIRE NETTING FENCE. 



The wire netting fence furnishes an admirable barrier against 
small animals, poultry, etc. It costs from $1 50 to $2 75 per 



GG 



The Farm. 



rod, according to the height and the size of the wire and 
meshes. 

Another style of iron farm fence is called the " Corrugated 
Flat Eail Fence." It is in some respects preferable to the 
round rail or wire, being visible at a greater distance and les3 
liable to sagging. 

6. Hurdle Fence. — The hurdle, or light, movable fence is 
formed in short panels, and firmly set in the ground by sharp- 
ened stakes at the end of each panel, and these are fastened 
together. This is a convenient addition to farms where heavy 
green crops of clover, lucern, peas, or turnips are required to 
be fed off in successive lots, by sheep, swine, or cattle. It is 
variously constructed of wood or iron, and is much less expen- 
sive than might be supposed, " "Wickersham's Corrugated Hur- 
dle Fence" being furnished by the Wire Eailing Company at 
from $2 50 to $5 per rod, according to weight and quality. 




■WICKERBHAM'S COEEtTGATED HURDLE PENCE. 

7. Hedges. — The live fence, almost universal in England, is 
still an experiment here. There have been a few successes and 
many failures in the cultivation of hedges. The causes of fail- 
are have been various — a wrong choice of trees, the dryness 



FENCES. 67 

of our climate, lack of experience in planting, neglect of proper 
after cultivation and pruning, etc. But the few examples of 
complete success which may be pointed out prove conclusively 
that, under proper and easily attainable conditions, live fences 
are perfectly practicable in this country ; and in some parts of 
it they are doubtless economical. When well kept, they are 
certainly very beautiful. 

Among the plants employed in this country with more or less 
success for hedges are the buckthorn, the hawthorn, the bar- 
berry, the althea or rose of Sharon, the Osage orange, the 
American arbor vita?, the American holly, the hemlock spruce, 
the white cedar, the evergreen thorn (Cratcegus pyracantha), 
the Cherokee rose, and the white Macartney rose. 

For the Middle, Western, and some of the Northern States, 
the Osage orange seems to be, on the whole, the best. It also 
succeeds at the South; but there the evergreen thorn, the 
Cherokee rose, and especially the single white Macartney rose, 
are preferable. 

The soil for a hedge row must be deeply plowed or spaded, 
and, if poor, manured a little. The space thus prepared should 
be at least two feet wide, and with a soil from eighteen inches 
to two feet deep. The best way is to open a trench of the 
required width and depth, throw some well-rotted manure in 
the bottom, and then fill up with the surface earth. Along the 
middle of this filled trench stretch a line, and make holes under 
it in the soft earth every six or eight inches, with a " dibble" 
or pointed stick. Set your plants in the holes precisely as you 
would plant cabbages, pressing the earth around the roots, and 
leaving only one inch of the top visible above the surface. The 
plants may be either one or two years old, and the tops should 
be cut off within two inches of the root. The young hedge 
must be well cultivated for several years, and cut back once or 
twice a year till it shall be four feet high. The conical shape 
is best for a hedge, as it admits every shoot to the benefit of 
the air and light. Where vacancies occur, vigorous shoots 
may be "layered"— that is, fastened to the ground with hooked 



68 The Farm. 

pegs, when they will take root and send up sprouts to fill the 
open spaces. 

The editor of the Country Gentleman very truly says : "Not 
one Osage orange hedge in twenty succeeds, simply because it is 
expected to take care of itself after setting out. Constant cul- 
ture and cutting are as essential as air and food to animals." 

Evergreens make the handsomest hedges ; and although less 
stout, yet by shutting out sight are usually quite safe. The 
Norway fir is the fastest grower — the hemlock most beautiful, 
and the best of any for the shade of trees; the growth is, 
however, rather slow. It shears finely, and its interior ia 
dense. The Norway fir also does well on these points. 

At the South we should choose the single white Macartney 
rose for general cultivation ; although the Cherokee rose, when 
properly treated, the evergreen thorn, the honey locust, the 
jujube, and the Spanish bayonet {Yucca gloriosa) all form effi- 
cient and beautiful hedges. 

Mr. Redmond, one of the editors of the Southern Cultivator, 
gives the following directions for the cultivation of rose hedges ; 
and no one is better qualified to speak on this point : 

" As a general rule, both the Macartney and Cherokee roses 
are improperly planted. To succeed with them, it is necessary 
to open two parallel ditches or trenches about four feet apart, 
heaping the earth along the ceuter in the form of a sloping 
bank. At the lase of this bank, on each side, plant 12-inch 
cuttings in December or January, training the tops over the 
bank from each side. Having this bank as a foundation, they 
will constantly layer themselves and grow close at the bottom, 
and will interlace their thorny branches so intricately that no 
animal can pass through. The ditch on each side forms an 
additional obstruction to the passage of animals, and forms a 
definite boundary or limit to the hedge — to which limit only 
the ends of the branches must be allowed to extend. In trim- 
ming, a man passes rapidly along the bottom of the ditch, 
clipping off even with the inner side all the straggling ends of 
the plants. In order to explain this system of rose hedge! 



Fences. 69 

more fully, we will endeavor to give a drawing hereafter. In 
the mean time, let it be remembered that the cuttings must 
always ~be 'planted at the lottom, never at the top of the bank 
— the latter situation being too dry to make them grow off 
vigorously." 




SECTION OP MODEL HEDGE. 

A really good and perfect hedge should form a rounded 
pyramid, similar to the accompanying cut, branching out 
broadly and close to the ground, and tapering np either sharply 
or obtuse, as the taste of the cultivator may determine. This 
is a fundamental principle in all hedging, and unless it is secured 
at the outset by proper trimming, it can never be done aftei- 
ward. 

III.— A HINT OR TWO. 

But let your fence be of what kind it may, it is necessary, in 
the words of our motto, to " keep an eye" upon it. Some acci- 
dent may cause a breach in the best fence, and a fence that is 
not perfectly efficient is worse than none. A fence, to accom- 
plish the purpose of a fence, must not only be able to " stand 
alone," but must bear a little jostling. Your cattle may very 
innocently rub themselves against it. If it tumble down, who 
can blame them if they walk into the adjoining field, or into 
the highway, as the case may be ? And you underrate their 
sagacity if you suppose that they will not take a hint from the 
accident, and rub again for the express purpose of producing 
the result obtained before without a purpose. Eail bars are 



70 The Fakm. 

often slipped out in this way. Gates are much hetter. " When 
bars are used, they should be let down so near the ground that 
every animal can step over conveniently ; nor should they be 
hurried over so fast as to induce any animal to jump. In 
driving a flock of sheep through them, the lower bars ought to 
be taken entirely out, or they be allowed to go over the bars in 
single file. Animals will seldom become jumpers, except 
through their owner's fault, or from some bad example set 
them by unruly associates ; and unless the fences be perfectly 
secure, such ought to be stalled till they can be disposed of. 
The farmer will find that no animal will repay him the trouble 
and cost of expensive fences and ruined crops." 

IV.— AEE FENCES NECESSARY? 

The burden and expense of fence-making is so great that 
the question has very naturally been raised whether it would 
not be better, in an economical point of view, to dispense with 
them entirely. It is said that the greatest investment of capital 
in this country is in the common fences which divide the fields 
from the highway, and separate them from each other. Df 
they pay ? 

In France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and other parts of Eu 
rope, fences are seldom seen. When cattle or sheep are pas 
tured in these countries, they are placed under the care of » 
herdsman or shepherd, who, with the aid of his sagacious and 
well-trained dog, easily keeps a large herd or flock within pre- 
scribed limits, which are marked by a slight ditch, or in some 
other simple way. Does the labor of the herdsman and his 
dog cost more than the fences which would have been required 
without him ? In those countries undoubtedly not. In refer- 
ence to the United States we have not the necessary estimates 
or the exact data on which to base them ; but, according to the 
figuies given in the following extract from an article puhlished 
in the Ohio Farmer, it appears that fences do not always pay, 
even here, where labor costs so much more than in Europe. 
After mentioning the fact that the ancients had no fences, and 



Fences. 71 

that there are none in France, and declaring them wholly un- 
necessary here, the writer goes on : 

" The fences in our State cost more than its railroads. Now, 
this huge amount of capital is, to all intents and purposes, dead. 
More, it is a decaying capital ; annually a large amount of its 
depreciated stock must be replaced. These repairs cost im- 
mense sums of timber, time, and hard work. But the evil doea 
not stop here : timber is decreasing in quantity and quality ; for 
rails, posts, and stakes require a great deal, and that of the best 
kind, while our vast prairies have no timber at all hardly for 
fencing. 

" And there are other evils connected with this expensive 
and stupid modern invention. Fences become the refuge of 
vermin and all manner of noxious weeds. Then, too, they act 
as natural and annual distributors of these weeds. The fence 
protects the weed till it is ripe, and then furnishes the seed to 
the first high winds of winter and spring. 

"In addition to these objections to fences, we might mention 
that they occupy a great deal of ground. 

" Now, what are their advantages ? They keep cattle in their 
proper places, protecting the farmer against his own and other 
people's cattle. But what need is there for anybody's cattle to 
run at large ? There are laws now prohibiting some kinds of 
animals from running abroad ; why not extend it to all ? It is 
our impression that it would be much more economical to hire 
help to attend them in the field and in the stable than to pay 
for fences, fencing, and waste lands occupied by fences. 

" "We will append a few figures, from our own experience, in 
order to present to the farming community the importance of 
looking at this matter. We claim no special accuracy for our 
statistics, but they are, in the main, correct ; and if they will 
call out from one or more of our farmers and agricultural pro- 
fessors the facts in the case, as they exist in our State, we shall 
feel that our object has been accomplished. 

" Taking our own observations as a guide, these are the fig- 
ures : Chestnut rails are worth six dollars per hundred ; oak 



72 The Farm. 

stakes, about three dollars per hundred. It takes fourteen rails 
and four stakes per rod for a worm fence ; in round numbers, 
it costs one dollar per rod. This would be three hundred and 
twenty dollars per mile, and there were seven miles of fence, 
making two thousand two hundred and forty dollars for the 
fencing material. Now, add to this first cost the price of haul- 
ing, of setting up, or keeping in repair, of decay, and of the 
waste of land occupied. If you pay for bringing these rails to 
their proper places and putting them up, the first cost of mate- 
rial will be three thousand dollars. First cost of material and 
work, three thousand dollars; interest at six per cent., one 
hundred and eighty dollars; annual decay, six per cent., one 
hundred and eighty dollars ; annual repairs, three per cent., 
ninety dollars ; loss of land, five per cent., one hundred and 
fifty dollars. Annual cost, five hundred dollars. 

" Could not this sum be better used?" 

We suspect that in reference to large portions of the West, 
at least, the writer's closing question may be answered in the 
affirmative. 



Farm Implements and Their Use. 73 



VI. 
FARM IMPLEMENTS AND THEIR USE. 

'Tio time to clear your plowshare in the glebe. — Chrdhtm. 

L— THE PLOW. 




&t 



s ISTORY does not inform us when plows were 
first used ; but there are traces of them in the 
.^9~z earliest of all written authorities — the Bible. 
By consulting the sacred records (Deut. xxii. 10) we 
i a find that in very early times they plowed with two oxen, 
J\o and that their plow had a coulter and plowshare (Sam. 
xiii. 20) ; and drawings of early Greek plows show that 
they were furnished with wheels. The plows of Borne were 
of the most simple form. "Nothing," J. J. Thomas says, 
"shows the improvements of modern agriculture more con- 
spicuously than the difference between the old and new plows." 
The " old plow" is still used in many countries where farmers 
do not enjoy the benefit of agricultural periodicals. The accom- 
panying cut represents the plow at present used in Morocco. 
It would hardly receive the premium of the State Agricultural 
Society, and has probably never been patented. It may, how- 
ever, be made very cheaply, the point only being shod with 
iron. In the less civilized regions of Morocco the plow consists 
only of a crooked limb of a tree, with a projecting branch 



74 



The Farm. 



Bharpened to a point for scratching up the ground. The Moora 
do not take the agricultural papers.* 




MOORISH PLOW. 



Compare the rude implement of the Moor with the improved 
Eagle Plow of Nourse, Mason & Co., here represented. This 




THE EAGLE PLOW. 



is a No. 2, and is a medium-sized two-horse or cattle sod or stub- 
ble plow. It is adapted to turn sod furrows from four to seven 
inches deep by from twelve to fourteen inches wide, and will work 
somewhat deeper in stubble plowing. It is rigged with the lock 
coulter, wheel, draft-rod, and dial clevis, as represented by the 
cut, and with these fixtures is a very strong, and at the same 
time light plow for two cattle or horses, in plowing stony, 
stumpy, or rough, uneven land. Or it is rigged with wheel and 
cutter, for flat furrows in smooth land. There are other sizes, 
both larger and smaller than this, and for general use no plow 
has given better satisfaction. 

An admirable plow for turning under sward deeply is the 
Double Michigan. " It has two mold-boards. The forward or 
small one skims the surface, taking off a few inches of the top 
of the sod, and laying it in the bottom of the previous furrow ; 

* Annual Register of Rural Aflairs. 



Fabm Implements and Theie Use. 75 

and the second or large mold-board turns up what is left, and 
completely buries the former. Three strong horses will draw 
this plow when of the smaller size, and will run a furrow eight 
or nine inches deep ; but the larger sized plow requires nearly 
double this force, and will cut a furrow a foot deep. 

" The Michigan plow prepares sod ground in the best manner 
for planting corn, the mellow soil which is thrown on the sod 
being deep enough to allow a coat of manure to be buried 
afterward a few inches by means of a gang-plow. 

" When the subsoil is of such a nature as not to enrich the 
top soil when thrown up and mixed with it, or when it is de- 
sirable, to loosen up a deep bed of mellow earth to serve as a 
reservoir for moisture, the subsoil plow serves a valuable pur- 
pose. It is also useful for loosening the soil to allow the trench 
or Michigan plow to enter more fully to a greater depth. 

" The subsoil plow merely loosens the earth, but does not 
turn it up to the surface. It is made to follow in the furrow 
of a common plow. It runs much deeper than the trench plow, 
with the same force of team. Four horses attached to a strong 
plow, running in a furrow seven inches deep, will loosen the 
earth to a depth of fifteen to eighteen inches. The benefit of 
subsoiling depends essentially on keeping the ground well 
drained ; for if the loosened earth is afterward allowed to be- 
come thoroughly soaked or flooded with water, it soon becomes 
compacted together again, and the operation proves of no per- 
manent advantage. This is one fruitful source of failure."* 

The ridging or 
double mold- 
board plow is a 
very useful im- 
plement. It is 
used for opening 

drills to plant DOUBLE MOLD-BOAKD PLOW. 

potatoes, corn, etc. ; in plowing between narrow rows ; in dig* 




76 



The Faem. 



ging potatoes, etc. No farmer should be without it. It is a 
light one-horse plow. 

The side-hill or swivel-plow is so constructed that the mold- 
board is easily and instantly changed from one side to the other, 
which enables the plowman to perform the work horizontally 
upon hillsides, going back and forth on the same side, and 
turning all the furrow slices downward. This prevents the 
washing of the soil by heavy rains, to which all hillsides are 
more or less liable when plowed up and down the slope. Such 
a plow should be considered indispensable at the South. 



II.-THE HAEEOW. 

Next to the plow in the order of description, as well as of 
ase, comes the harrow. Like the plow, it was anciently a very 




'//hmM 



IMPROVED HINGE HAEEOW, 



rude implement ; and it is only quite recently that it has reached 
the high degree of efficiency and facility of action which char- 



Farm Implements and Their Use. 77 



acterize the best implements of the present day. "He must 
have lived to little purpose who is content to use the clumsy, 
coarse harrow of former days." 

One of the best of the improved harrows is the hinge har- 
row represented by the accompanying cut. This harrow may 
be folded double, or separated into two parts, for the conve- 
nience of transportation or other purpose. Either half may be 
lifted for any purpose while the implement is in motion ; and the 
easy and independent play of the parts up and down upon the 
hinges enables the instrument to adapt itself to the surface of 
the ground in all places, so that whether going through hollows, 
or over knolls or ridges, it is always at work, and every tooth 
has an operation upon the soil. 

The Geddes harrow and the Hanford harrow, triangular in 
shape, are also excellent implements; and for light grounds, 
free from stones and other obstructions, the Scotch or square 
harrow serves its purpose admirably. 




The accompanying engraving represents a harrow recently 
patented by Samuel J. Orange, of Grayville, 111. It involves 
the rotary principle, the rotation being produced by the press- 
ure of the rollers g g upon the wheels A A. It has the im- 
portant advantage, that while it secures the rotation of the 
wheels, it at the same time avoids side draft. 



78 



The Farm. 



III.-THE CULTIVATOR 

This is a useful implement for stirring the soil and killing 
weeds. It is generally made to he drawn by one horse, and is 
mostly used between the rows of corn, potatoes, cotton, etc. 
It is made so as to expand or contract, according to the width 
of the rows. It saves a great deal of hard labor; but must 
not be allowed to usurp the place of the plow where deep cul- 
tivation is required. 

IV.— THE HORSE HOE. 

Allied to the cultivator is the horse hoe in its various forms. 
" Knox's patent has four teeth. The forward one is simply a 
coulter, to keep the implement steady and in a straightforward 
direction; the two side or middle teeth are miniature plows, 
which may be changed from one side to the other, so as to turn 
the earth from the rows at first weeding, when the plants are 
small and tender, or toward them in later cultivation — at the 
option of the operator ; the broad rear tooth effectually disposes 
of grasses and weeds, cutting off or rooting up all that come in its 
way. It is a thorough pulverizer of the surface, sifting the earth 




HORSE HOK FOP. COTTON. 



and weeds through its iron prongs or fingers in the rear, leaving 
the weeds on the surface to wilt and die, and the ground levei 



Farm Implements and Theik Use. 79 

and mellow. For hoeing carrots, turnips, etc., where the rows 
are narrow, the side teeth are taken out, and the rear tooth, 
with the forward one as a director to guide the instrument, hoes 
and mellows the ground between the rows very perfectly." 
Our engraving represents a modification of Knox's horse hoe, 
adapting it particularly to the cultivation of cotton. 

V.-THE FIELD EOLLEE. 

JTo good farmer will omit this useful implement from his list. 
It levels and smooths the plowed land on sowing down to 




"WOODEN FIBLD EOLLEE. 



grass, forcing sods and small stones into the soft ground, pul- 
verizing all lumps of earth, pressing the light, loose soil of the 
surface around the seeds of grain, grass, etc., securing a suro 
and quick germination and growth of the seeds, and preparing 
a smooth, even surface for the reaper, scythe, and rake. By 
making the earth compact at the surface, insects are deprived 
of shelter ; otherwise the sods, loose stones, and lumps of earth 
afford them convenient habitations. In spring there is fre- 
quently great advantage in rolling lands recently sowed to grain 
and grass, as the earth that has been raised by the frost, exposing 
the roots of plants, is replaced by the operation, with benefit to 
the growing crop. The roller is particularly beneficial on light 
lands, of soil too loose and porous to retain moisture and pro- 



80 



The Faem. 



tect the manure from the effects of drying winds and a scorch 
ing sun, and too light too allow the roots of plants a firm hold 
in the earth ; for on such lands its compressing effect, especially 
in dry seasons, very much increases the product of crop as well 
as preserves the manure from undue evaporation, thus saving a 
greater portion of its fertilizing properties for the benefit of the 
laud and succeeding crops. 



VI.-SEED SOWERS. 



Every farmer or gardener needs 




A SMALL HAND-DRILL. 



seed-sower of some sort ; 
but one of the small- 
est and simplest of 
the many kinds man- 
ufactured will serve 
the purpose of the 
majority of agricul- 
turists. The light 
hand-drill represent- 
ed by the accom- 
panying cut will be 
found entirely satisfactory where the work to be performed by 
such an implement 
is limited. The 
seed sower repre- 
sented by the next 
engraving is larger, 
and rather more ef- 
fective, but still 
light and cheap. 
With proper care, 
either of these little 
implements will do the work required of them, in garden and 
field, for many years, without requiring renewal or repair. 




SEED-SOWER. 



VII.-THE HORSE RAKE. 

The utLbty of this simple implement is not fully realized, we 



Farm Implements and Their Use. 81 

are sure, or it would be more generally employed. One man, 
with a horse and a boy (and with some of tbe implements the 
boy is not required), will, upon a favorable surface, perform 
tbe work of eigbt men with hand-rakes. A horse-rake is not 
an expensive implement, and every farmer should have one. 
The old revolver is perbaps tbe best for general use. 

VIII.-HOWERS, KEAPEES, ETC. 

Of tbe expensive labor-saving agricultural implements, like 
the mower, the reaper, and tbe tbrasber, it does not fall within 
our purpose to speak, furtber tban to recommend our readers 
to avail tbemselves of tbe grand economies which tbey afford, 
whenever tbey can, by combinations with their neighbors for 
joint ownership of such machines, or by employing those kept 
for the purpose of being hired out. The small farmer can not 
afford to invest capital, of which he generally has too little, in 
these implements for himself alone. Those who are engaged 
in cultivation on a large scale, and have adequate capital, should, 
of course, own these labor-saving machines. 

For a complete list of farm implements, with an approximate 
estimate of their cost, see the next chapter. 



82 



The Farm. 



VII. 

FARM MANAGEMENT. 

A little farm well tilled ; 
A little barn well filled ; 
A little wife well willed. 

I.— INTRODUCTORY. 




&l ^W^WfJJk ^ ^ 1C P erm i ss i° n °f our much respected 
° friend, the author, we here present, un- 
abridged, the interesting and valuable Essay 
on Farm Management, by J. J. Thomas, 
which obtained the prize from the New York State 
Agricultural Society, in 1844. The author, in ac- 
cording permission to use this document, expresses 
his regret that he has not the leisure to rewrite it, as it was 
written many years ago, under much disadvantage, and is con- 
sequently less perfectly adapted to its purpose than he might 
now make it. The reader will, however, find it, in its present 
form, worth more than anything else that we could condense 
into the same space. 



II.— THE PRIZE ESSAY. 

ON FARM MANAGEMENT. 
BY J. J. THOMAS. 

The great importance of performing in the best manner the 
different operations of agriculture is obvious to every intelligent 



Fakm Management. 83 

mind, for on this depends the success of farming. But a good per- 
formance of single operations merely does not constitute the hest 
farming. The perfection of the art consists not only in doing every- 
thing well individually, but in a proper adjustment and system- 
atic arrangement of all the parts, so that they shall be done not 
only in the best manner and at the right time, but with the most 
effective and economical expenditure of labor and money. Every- 
thing must move on with clock-work regularity, without inter- 
ference, even at the most busy seasons of the year. 

As this subject includes the whole routine of farming in a col- 
lected view as well as in its separate details, a treatise upon it 
might be made to fill volumes ; but this being necessarily con- 
fined to a few pages, a general outline, with some remarks on its 
more essential parts, can only be given. 

Capital. — The first requisite in all undertakings of magnitude 
is to "count the cost." The man who commences a building, 
which to finish would cost ten thousand dollars, with a capital of 
only five thousand, is as certainly ruined as many farmers are 
who, without counting the cost, commence on a scale to which 
their limited means are wholly inadequate. One of the greatest 
mistakes which young farmers make in this country, in their anx- 
ious wish for large possessions, is, not only in purchasing more 
land than they can pay for, but in the actual expenditure of all 
their means, without leaving any even to begin the great work of 
farming. Hence, the farm continues for a long series of years 
poorly provided with stock, with implements, with manure, and 
with the necessary labor. From this heavy drawback on the prof- 
its of his land, the farmer is kept long in debt ; the burden of 
which not only disheartens him, but prevents that enterprise and 
energy which are essential to success. This is one fruitful reason 
why American agriculture is in many places in so low a state. A 
close observer, in traveling through the country, is thus enabled 
often to decide from the appearances of the buildings and premises 
of each occupant, whether he is in or out of debt. 

In England, where the enormous taxes of different kinds impe- 
riously compel the cultivator to farm well or not farm at all, the 
indispensable necessity of a heavy capital to begin with is fully 
understood. The man who merely rents land there, must possess 
as much to stock it and commence operations as the man who buy* 



84 The Farm. 

and pays for a farm of equal size in some of our best farming dis 
tricts. The result is, that he is enabled to do everything in the 
best manner ; he is not compelled to bring his goods prematurely 
to market to supply his pressing wants ; and by having ready 
mouey always at command, he can perform every operation at the 
very best season for product and economy, and make purchases 
when necessary at the most advantageous rate. The English 
farmer is thus able to pay an amount of tax often more than the 
whole product of farms of equal extent in this country. 

The importance of possessing the means of doing everything at 
exactly the right season can not be too highly appreciated. One 
or two illustrations may set this in a clearer light. Two farmers 
had each a crop of ruta-bagas of an acre each ; the first, by hoeing 
his crop early while the weeds were only an inch high, accomplished 
the task with two days' work, and the young plants then grew 
vigorously and yielded a heavy return. The second, being pre- 
vented by a deficiency of help, had to defer his hoeing one week, 
and then three days more by rainy weather, making ten days in 
all ; during this time the weeds had sprung up six to ten inches 
high ; so as to require, instead of two days, no less than six days to 
hoe them ; and so much was the growth of the crop checked at this 
early stage that the owner had 150 bushels less in his acre than the 
farmer who took time by the forelock. Another instance occur- 
red with an intelligent farmer of this State, who raised two fielda 
of oats on land of similar quality. One field was sown very early, 
and well put in, and yielded a good profit. The other was de- 
layed twelve days and then hurried ; and although the crop was 
within two thirds of the amount of the former, yet that difference 
was just the clear profit of the first crop ; so that with the latter 
the amount yielded only paid the expenses. 

Admitting that the farm is already purchased and paid for, it 
becomes an object to know what else is needed and at what cost, 
before cultivation is commenced. If the buildings and fences are 
what they should be, which is not often the case, little immedi- 
ate outlay will be needed for them. But if not, then an estimate 
must be made of the intended improvements, and the necessary 
Bum allotted for them. These being all in order, the following 
items requiring an expenditure of capital will be required on a 
good farm of 100 acres of improved land. 



Fakm Management. 85 

I. LIVESTOCK. 

The amount will vary with the fertility and products of the land, 
its quality, and situation with regard to market. The following 
will approximate the average on good farms taken at the spring 
of the year or commencement of work :* 

3 Horses, at $100 $300 

1 Yoke oxen 150 

8 Milch cows, at $30 240 

10 Steers, heifers, and calves 100 

10 Pigs, at $3 30 

1W Sheep, at $2 50 375 

Poultry— say 5 

TotaL $1,200 

II. IMPLEMENTS. 

2 Plows fitted for work $20 00 

1 Small plow, do 6 00 

1 Cultivator, hest kind 7 00 

1 Drill-barrow 5 00 

1 Boiler 5 00 

1 Harrow 10 00 

1 Fanning-mill 20 00 

1 Straw-cutter 15 00 

1 Eoot-slicer 8 00 

1 Farm-wagon, with hay-rack etc 70 00 

1 Ox-cart 50 00 

1 Double farm harness 30 00 

1 Horse-cart. 45 00 

1 Horse-cart harness 18 00 

1 Boot-steamer, or boiler 20 00 

1 Shovel and one spade 2 50 

3 Steel-plate hoes 1 50 

2 Dung-forks 2 00 

3 Hay-forks 2 25 

2 Hand-rakes 25 

1 Bevolving horse-rake 8 00 

1 Grain-cradle 4 00 

2 Scythes 4 00 

1 "Wheelbarrow 4 00 

1 Pointed shovel 125 

1 Grain-shovel, or scoop-shovel. . 1 25 

1 Pick 150 

Carried forward $361 50 

* We allow the figures to stand as in our first edition. If we add to each 
•urn the premium on gold, we shall approximate present prices. 



86 The Fakm. 

Brought forward $861 50 

1 Mall and wedges 2 50 

2 Axes 4 00 

1 Hammer 50 

1 Wood-saw 1 00 

1 Turnip-hook 75 

1 Hay-knife 1 00 

2 Apple-ladders (for gathering). 1 50 

2 Large baskets 125 

2 Hand-baskets 50 

1 Tape-line (for laying off land) 2 00 

2 Sheep-shears 2 00 

1 Grindstone 3 00 

1 Steel-yard, large, and one small 2 00 

1 Stable lantern 50 

1 Curry-comb, and one brush 75 

1 Half-bushel measure 1 00 

20 Grain-bags 5 00 

1 Ox-chain 3 00 

1 Crow-bar 2 00 

1 Sled and fixtures 30 00 

Total $425 75 

Other articles might be included, as subsoil plow, sowing ma- 
enine, threshing machine, etc. To the preceding amount ought 
to be added one-tenth the expense of fencing the farm, as fences 
need renewing at least once in ten years. Every farmer should also 
be supplied with a small set of carpenter's tools, which would cost 
about $12, for repairing implements in rainy weather and other 
useful purposes. This set should include saw, hammer, augers, 
planes, adze, mallet, chisel, square, breast-bits, etc., and by the 
convenience and economy afforded, would soon repay their cost. 

III. SEEDS. 

2} Bushels clover seed for 10 acres. $15 00 

2 " corn " " 6 " 1 00 

20 ' potatoes " 2 " 10 00 

2 " carrot " 1 " 1 00 

40 Bushels seed wheat "20 " 40 00 

10 " oats " 4 " 4 00 

10 " barley " 5 " 6 00 

Total $-77 00 

IV. LABOR. 

Supposing the owner to labor with his own hands, as every 
owner should, so far as is consistent with a general superintend 



Fakh Management. 87 

ence of all parts, which would probably amount to one half the 
time, he would need besides through the season two men and one 
boy, and in the winter one man ; during haying and harvest he 
would require two additional hands. The men boarding them- 
selves, could be had for twenty dollars per month in summer and 
sixteen in winter ; if boarded, the cost of their meals would make 
up the deficiency in the wages to the same amount. The expend- 
iture needed, then, would be, 

2 Hired men, eight months, $20 per month $320 00 

1 " boy, " " 10 " 80 00 

Day labor in harvest 30 00 

Total $430 00 

V. MAINTENANCE OF ANIMALS. 

Cattle and sheep would need hay till fresh pasture, and horses 
hay, and also a good supply of oats till after harvest. All would 
be benefited by a liberal feeding of roots, including swine. The 
amount of all these supplies needed would be about, 

T Tons of hay $42 00 

200 Bushels oats 80 00 

400 " roots 50 00 

Total $172 00 

RECAPITULATION. 

Livestock $1,200 00 

Implements 425 75 

Seeds 7T 00 

Labor 430 00 

Maintenance of animals 172 00 

Total $2,304 75 

— the amount of capital needed the first year, in stocking and 
conducting satisfactorily the operations of one hundred acres of 
improved land, several items being doubtless omitted. 

If this is a larger sum than the young farmer can command, 
let him purchase only fifty acres, and reserve the rest of the pur- 
chase money which would be needed for the one hundred acres, 
to commence with on a smaller farm, and he will scarcely fail to 
make more than on a larger, with every part subjected to an im- 
perfect, hurrying, and irregular management. He may calculate, 
perhaps, on the return of his crops in autumn, at least to pay his 



88 The Faem. 

hands. But he must remember that the first year of farming i« 
attended with many expenses which do not usually occur after- 
ward, which his crops may not repay, besides supporting his fam- 
ily and paying his mechanics' and merchants' bills. The first 
year must always be regarded with uncertainty ; and it is better 
to come out at the end on a moderately sized farm, well tilled 
and in fine order, with money in pocket, than on a larger one, in 
debt, and hired hands — a class of men not to be disappointed, and 
who ought not to be — waiting for their pay. There are a fer 
greater number of farmers embarrassed and crippled by placing 
their estimate of expenses too low, than of those who swing clear 
and float freely by a full previous counting of cost. 

Size of Farms. — After what has just been said, the cultivator 
will perceive in part the advantages of moderately sized farms for 
men in moderate circumstances. The great disadvantage of a su- 
perficial, skimming culture is obvious with a moment's attention. 
Take the corn crop as an illustration. There are a great many 
fanners, to my certain knowledge, whose yearly product per acre 
does not exceed an average of twenty-five bushels. There are other 
farmers, whom I also well know, who obtain generally not less than 
sixty bushels per acre, and often eighty to ninety-five. Now ob- 
serve the difference in the profits of each. The first gets 250 
bushels from ten acres. In doing this, he has to plow ten acres, 
harrow ten acres, mark out ten acres, find seed for ten acres, plant, 
cultivate, hoe, and cut up ten acres, besides paying the interest on 
ten acres, worth from three to five hundred dollars. The other 
farmer gets 250 bushels from four acres at the farthest ; and he 
only plows, plants, cultivates, and hoes, to obtain the same amount, 
four acres, which from their fine tilth, and freedom from grass and 
weeds, is much easier done, even for an equal surface. Tbe same 
reasoning applies throughout the farm. Be sure, then, to culti- 
vate no more than can be done in the best manner, whether it be 
ten, fifty, or five hundred acres. A friend who owned a four-hun- 
dred-acre farm told me that he made less than his next neighbor, 
who had only seventy-five. Let the man who applies a certain 
amount of labor every year to his farm reduce its dimensions until 
tnat labor accomplishes everything in the very best manner. Ho 
will doubtless find that the amount of land will thus become much 
smaller than he supposed, more so than most would be willing t& 



Farm Management. 89 

reduce It ; but, on the other hand, the net proceeds from it will 
augment to a greater degree than perhaps could possibly be 
believed. 

But let me not be misunderstood. Large farms are by no means 
to be objected to, provided the owner has capital enough to per- 
form all the work as well as it is now done on the best farms of 
small size. 

As an example of what may be obtained from a small piece of 
land, the following products of fifty acres are given, and are not 
more than I have known repeatedly to be taken from good land 
by several thorough farmers : 

10 Acres wheat, 35 bushels per acre, at $1 00. . . . $350 00 



5 " corn, 90 " " 


40.... 


ISO 00 


2 " potatoes, 300 " " 


20.... 


120 00 


1 Acre ruta-bagas, 800 " " 


10... 


80 00 


6 Acres winter apples, 250 " 


25.... 


375 00 


6 " hay, 2} tons " 


6 00.... 


90 00 


10 " pasture, worth 




60 00 


5 " barley, 40 bushels per acre 


40.... 


so oo 


5 " oais, 50 " " 


U0 


50 00 



Total products of fifty acres of very fine land $1,385 00 

This aggregate yield is not greater than that obtained by some 
who might be named, from a similar quantity of land. Good 
land in most localities could be brought to that state of fertility 
very easily, at a total cost of one hundred dollars per acre, and 
then it would be incomparably cheaper than many large good 
farms at nothing ; for, while the fifty acres could be tilled for 
three hundred and eighty-five dollars, leaving one thousand dol- 
lars net profits, large poor farms hardly pay the work spent upon 
them. One proprietor of such a farm declared, ' ' It requires me 
and my hired man all summer hard at work to get enough to pay 
him onlj . ' ' 

Laying out Farms. — This department is very much neglected. 
The proper disposition of the different fields, for the sake of econ- 
omy in fencing, for convenience of access, and for a full command- 
of pasture and protection of crops at all times, has received com- 
paratively little attention from our agricultural writers and from 
farmers. 

Many suppose that this business is very quickly disposed of; that 
a very few minutes, or nours at most, will enable a man to plan 



90 The Farm. 

the arrangement of his fields about right. But this is a great 
error. Even when a farm is of the simplest form, on a flat, uni- 
form piece of ground, many things are to be borne in mind in 
laying it out. 

In the first place we all know that the fencing of a moderately 
sized farm costs many hundred dollars. It is very desirable to do 
it well, and use at the same time as little material as possible. To 
do this much will depend on the shape of the fields. A certain 
length of fence will inclose more land in the form of a square than 
in any other practical shape. Hence fields should approach this 
form as nearly as possible. Again, the disposition of lanes is a 
matter of consequence, so as to avoid unnecessary length and fenc- 
ing and occupy the least quantity of ground. 

But these rules may be materially affected by other consider- 
ations. For instance, it is very desirable tbat land of a similar 
quality may be in the same inclosure. Some may be naturally 
too wet for anything but meadow or pasture : some may be much 
lighter, and susceptible of plowing, while others are not : some may 
be naturally sterile, and need unusual manuring with green crops. 
All these should, as far as practicable, be included each in its own 
separate boundary. The situation of surface drains, forming the 
boundaries of fields, may influence their shape ; facilities for irri 
gation may have an essential bearing : convenience for watering 
cattle is not to be forgotten. Where, in addition to all these 
considerations, the land is hilly, still more care and thought are 
required in the subdivision, which may possibly require years of 
experience ; but where fixed fences are once made, it is hard to 
remove them ; hence a previous thorough examination should be 
made. A farm road, much used for heavy loads, should be made 
hard and firm, and can not easily be altered ; it consequently should 
be exactly in the right place, and be dry, level, and short ; the 
shape of adjoining fields even conforming with these requisitions \ 
but a road little used should not interfere with the outlines of fields, 
s c- c- o c- e- e 

In laying out a farm with a very uneven surface or irregulai 
shape, it would be best to draw, first, a plan adapted to smooth 
ground, and then vary the size and shape of the fields, the dis- 
tance of the lane from the center, its straightness, etc., accord- 
ing to the circumstances of the case. 



Faem Management. 91 

Fences.* — The kind of fence used, and the materials used for 
its construction, must depend on circumstances and localities. A 
good fence is always to be preferred to an imperfect one ; though it 
will cost more, it will more than save that cost, and three times the 
amount in vexation besides, by keeping cattle, colts, and pigs out 
of fields of grain. A thriving farmer whose whole land, except a 
small part with stone wall, is inclosed by common rail fence, 
with upright cedar stakes, and connecting caps to the tops, finds 
that it needs renewing once in six years. He accordingly divides 
his whole amount of fences into six parts, one of which is built 
new every year. All is thus kept systematically in good repair. 
Stone walls, if set a foot below the surface to prevent tumbling by 
frost, are the most durable fence. Hedges have not been sufficient- 
ly tried. The English hawthorn is not well adapted to our hotter 
and drier climate, and though sometimes doing well for a time, is 
not to be depended on. 

Gates. — Every field on the farm should be entered by a good 
self-shutting and self-fastening gate. A proper inclination in 
hanging will secure the former requisite, and a good latch, prop- 
erly constructed, the latter. Each field should be numbered, and 
the number painted on the gate-post. Let the farmer who has 
bars instead of gates, make a trial of their compara-tive convenience, 
by taking them out and replacing them without stopping as often 
as he does in one year on his farm, say about six hundred times, 
and he can not fail to be satisfied which is the cheapest for use. 

Buildings. — These should be as near the center of the farm as 
other considerations will admit. All the hay, grain, and straw 
being conveyed from the fields to the barn, and most of it back 
again in manure, the distance of drawing should be as short as 
possible. This will also save much traveling of men and cattle 
to and from the different parts of the farm. The buildings should 

* Strange as it may seem, the greatest investment in this country, the most 
costly production of human industry, is the common fences which divide the 
fields from the highway, and separate them from each other. No man dreams 
that when compared with the outlay of these unpretending monuments of art, 
our cities and our towns, with all their wealth, are left far behind. Tou will 
scarce believe me when I say that the fences of ihis country have cost more 
than twenty times the specie there is in it. In many of the counties of the 
Northern States the fences have cost more than the farms and ffinces are (vorth- 
— Burnap. 



92 The Fabm. 

not, however, be too remote from the public road, and a good, 
dry, healthy spot should be chosen. The dwelling should be com- 
fortable, but not large ; or it should rather be adapted to the ex- 
tent of the lands. A large, costly house with a small farm and 
other buildings, is an indication of bad management. The cen- 
sure of the old Roman should be avoided, who, having a small 
piece of land, built his house so large that he had less occasion to 
plow than to sweep. 

The barn and out-buildings should be of ample extent. The 
barn should have space for hay, grain, and straw. It is a matter 
of great convenience to have the straw for littering stables housed 
and close at hand, and not out of doors, under a foot of snow. 
There should be plenty of stables and sheds for all domestic ani- 
mals. This provibion will not only save one third of the fodder, 
but stock will thrive much better. Cows will give much more 
milk, sheep will yield more and better wool, and all will pass 
through the winter more safely. The wood-house, near or attached 
to the dwelling, should never be forgotten, so long as comfort in 
building fires and economy in the use of fuel are of any import- 
ance. 

A small, cheap, movable horse-power should belong to every 
establishment, to be used in churning, sawing wood, driving wash- 
ing machine, turning grindstone, cutting straw, and slicing roots. 

There should be a large root-cellar under the barn, into which 
the cart may be dumped from the outside. One great objection to 
the culture of roots, in this country — the difficulty of winter keep- 
ing — would then vanish. 

Both barns and house cellars should be well coated, on the bot- 
tom and sides, with water-lime mortar, which is a very cl<eap and 
effectual way to exclude both water and rats. 

Choice or Implements. — Of those which are much used, the very 
best only should be procured. This will be attended with a gain 
in every way. The work will be easier done and it will bo better 
done. A laborer who, by the use of a good hoe for one month, 
can do one quarter more each day, saves, in the whole time, an 
entire week's labor. 

Choice of Animals. — The best of all kinds should be selected, 
even if costing something more than others. Not "fancy" ani- 
mals, but those good for use and profit. Cows should be product 



Farm Management. 93 

tvo of milk, and of a form adapted for beef ; oxen hardy, and fast- 
working ; sheep, kept fine by never selling the best ; swine, not 
the largest merely, but those fattening best on least food. A Berk- 
shire at 200 pounds, fattened on 10 bushels of corn, is better than 
a " land pike" of 300, fattened on 50 bushels. 

Having now taken some notice of the necessary items for com- 
mencing farming, it remains to glance a little at 

Soils, and theik Management.— Soils are of various kinds, as 
heavy and light, wet and dry, fertile and sterile. They all require 
different management in a greater or less degree. 

Heavy soils are often stronger and more productive than light : 
but they require more labor for pulverization and tillage. They 
can not be plowed when very wet, nor so well when very dry. 
Although containing greater or less portions of clay, they may be 
distinguished, as a class, from lighter soils, by the cloddy surface 
the fields present after plowing in dry weather, by their cracking 
in drouth, and by their adhesiveness after rains. 

Sandy and gravelly loams also contain clays, but in smaller 
quantity ; so that they do not present the cloddiness and adhesive- 
ness of heavy soils. Though possessing, generally, less strength 
than clay soils, they are far more easily tilled, and may be worked 
without difficulty in wet weather. They do not crack or break in 
drouth. Indian corn, ruta-bagas, and some other crops, succeed 
best upon them. Sandy soils are very easily tilled, but are gener- 
ally not strong enough. When made rich, they are fine for some 
succulent crops. Peaty soils are generally light and free, contain- 
ing large quantities of decayed vegetable matter. They are made 
by draining low and swampy grounds. They are fine for Indian 
corn, broom corn, barley, potatoes, and turnips. They are great 
absorbers, and great radiators of heat ; hence they become warm 
in sunshine and cold in clear nights. For this reason they are 
peculiarly liable to frosts. Crops planted upon them must, conse- 
quently, be put in late, after spring frosts are over. Corn should 
be of early varieties, that it may not only be planted late, but 
ripen early. 

Each of these kinds of soil may be variously improved. Heavy 
soils are much improved by draining ; open drains to carry off the 
surface-water, and covered drains, that which settles beneath. An 
acquaintance covered a low, wet, clayey field with under- drains, 



94 The Farm. 

and from a production of almost nothing but grass, it yielded the 
first year forty bushels of wheat per acre, enough to pay the expense, 
and admitted of much easier tillage afterward. Heavy soils are 
also made lighter and freer by manuring ; by plowing under coat- 
ings of straw, rotten chips, and swamp muck ; and, in some raro 
cases, by carting on sand, though this is usually too expensive foi 
practice. Subsoil plowing is very beneficial both in wet seasons 
and in drouth ; the deep loose bed of earth it makes, receiving 
the water in heavy rains, and throwing it off to the soil above, 
when needed ; but a frequent repetition of the operation is needed, 
as the subsoil gradually settles again. 

Sandy soils are improved by manuring, by the application of 
lime, and by frequently plowing in green crops. Leached ashes 
have been found highly beneficial in many places. Where the 
subsoil is clayey, which is often the case, and especially if marly 
clay, great advantage is derived from shoveling it up and spread- 
ing it on the surface. A neighbor had twenty bushels of wheat 
per acre on land thus treated, while the rest of the field yielded 
only five. 

Manures. — These are among the first of requisites in successful 
farm management. They are the strong-moving power in agri- 
cultural operations. They are as the great steam-engine which 
drives the vessel onward. Good and clean cultivation is, indeed, 
all important ; but it will avail little without a fertile soil ; and 
this fertility must be created or kept up by a copious application 
of manures ; for these contribute directly or assist indirectly to the 
supply of nearly all the nourishment which plants receive. It is 
these which, produced chiefly from the decay of dead vegetable 
and animal matter, combine most powerfully to give new life and 
vigor ; and thus the apparently putrid mass is the very material 
which is converted into the most beautiful forms of nature, and 
plants and brilliant flowers spring up from the decay of old forms ; 
and thus a continued succession of destruction and renovation is 
carried on through an unlimited series of ages. 

Manures possess different degrees of power, partly from their in- 
herent richness, and partly from the rapidity with which they 
throw off their fertilizing ingredients, in assisting the growth of 
plants. These are given off by solution in water, and in the form 
of gas ; the one as a liquid manure, which, running down, ia 



Fakm Management. 95 

absorbed by tbe roots ; and tbe other, as air, escaping mostly into 
the atmosphere, and lost. 

The great art, then, of saving and manufacturing manure con- 
sists in retaining and applying, to the best advantage, those solu- 
ble and gaseous portions. Probably more than one half of all the 
materials which exist in the country are lost, totally lost, by not 
attending to the drainage of stables and farmyards. This could 
be retained by a copious application of straw ; by littering with 
sawdust, when saw-mills are near ; and, more especially, by the 
frequent coating of yards and stables with dried peat and swamp 
muck, of which many parts of our States furnish inexhaustible 
supplies. I say dried peat or muck, because, if it is already satura- 
ted with water, of which it will often take in five sixths of its own 
weight, it can not absorb the liquid portions of the manure. But 
if it will absorb five sixths in water, it will, when dried, absorb 
five sixths in liquid manure, and, both together, form a very en- 
riching material. The practice of many farmers shows how little 
they are aware of the hundreds they are losing, every yeai, by suf- 
fering this most valuable of their farm products to escape. Indeed, 
there are not a few who carefully, and very ingeniously, as they 
suppose, place their barns and cattle-yards in such a manner, on 
the sides of hills, that all the drainage from them may pass off 
out of the way into the neighboring streams ; and some one men- 
tions a farmer who, with pre-eminent shrewdness, built his hog- 
pen directly across a stream, that he might, at once, get the clean- 
ings washed away, and prevent their accumulation. He, of course, 
succeeded in his wish ; but he might, with almost equal propriety, 
have built his granary across the stream, so as to shovel the wheat 
into the water when it increased on his hands. 

The loss of manure, by the escape of gas, is often very great. 
The proof of this was finely exhibited by Humphrey Davy, in an 
experiment performed by filling a large retort from a heap of fer- 
menting manure, and placing the beak among the roots of some 
grass. Nothing but vapor left the vessel, yet in a few days the 
grass exhibited greater luxuriance around the beak of the retort 
than any of the surrounding portions. Hence the superiority of 
unfermented manures; the rich portions are not yet lost. And 
hence, too, the importance of preventing this loss by an immediate 
application, and plo ving into tbe soil, or by mixing it in composts 



d6 The Farm. 

with muck, peat, swamp mud, and even common earth, in a dry 
state — and of preventing its escape, from stables and yards, by a 
daily strewing with dried peat, lime, or plaster. 

Fresh manure is generally in a state not readily mixed with soils. 
It is thrown into large lumps over the surface, some of which are 
plowed in, others not ; but none of them prove of immediate use 
to the crops. But, on the other hand, fermented manure, from 
its ready pulverization, admits of an easy admixture. But let 
fresh manure be thoroughly ground down and worked into the 
soil by repeated harrowings and two or three plowings, and its 
influence will be like magic. 

Swamp muck has often been spoken of as manure ; but those 
who expect great and striking results from its application will be 
disappointed. Even with ashes, it is much less powerful than 
stable manure, not only because it possesses less inherent richness, 
but because it has less soluble parts, and, consequently, imparts 
its strength more slowly to growing plants. But this quality 
only makes it the more enduring. By decoction in water, vege- 
table mold loses a small portion of its weight by solution ; but if 
the remaining insoluble part is exposed to the air and moisture a 
few months, another part may be again dissolved. Thus, peat, 
muck, and all decayed vegetable fiber, become a slow but lasting 
source of nourishment to plants. 

But it is when shoveled out and dried, to be mixed with farm- 
yard manure, as a recipient for its evanescent parts, that peat or 
muck becomes pre-eminently valuable. Some parts of the State 
abound with inexhaustible supplies in almost every neighborhood ; 
many land -owners have from twenty to a hundred thousand cubic 
yards on their farms, lying untouched, while half-starved crops 
are growing in the adjacent fields. There are whole counties so 
well supplied with it that, if judiciously applied, it would, doubt- 
less, double their aggregate products. 

All neat farming, all profitable farming, and all satisfactory 
farming must be attended with a careful saving of manures. The 
people of Flanders have long been distinguished for the neatness 
and excellence of their farms, which they have studied to make 
like gardens. The care with which they collect all refuse mateiials 
which may be converted into manures, and increase their composts, 
is one of the chief reasons of the cleanliness of their towns and 



Farm Management. 97 

residences ; and were this subject fully appreciated and attended 
with a corresponding practice generally, it would, doubtless, 
soon increase, by millions, the agricultural products of the State. 

But there is another subject of scarcely less magnitude. This is 
a systematic 

Rotation of Crops. — If manuring is the steam-engine which 
propels the vessel, rotation is the rudder which guides it in its prog- 
ress. Unlike manuring, rotation does not increase the labor of 
culture : it only directs the labor in the most effective manner by 
the exercise of judgment and thought. 

The limits of this paper do not admit of many remarks on the 
principles of rotation. The following courses, however, have been 
found among some of the best adapted to our State : 

I. 1st year — Corn and roots, well manured. 

2d year— Wheat, sown with clover-seed ; 15 lbs. an acre. 
3d year— Clover, one or more years, according to fertility and amount of 
manure at hand. 
II. 1st year — Corn and roots, with all the manure. 
2d year— Barley and peas. 
3d year— Wheat, sown with clover. 
4th year— Clover, one or more years. 
III. 1st year — Corn and roots, with all the manure. 
2d year — Barley. 

3d year— Wheat, sown with clover. 
4th year— Pasture. 
5th year— Meadow. 
6th year— Fallow. 
Tth year— Wheat. 
8th year — Oats, sown with clover. 
9th year— Pasture or meadow. 

The number of the fields must correspond with the number of 
the changes in each course ; the first needing three fields to carry 
it out, the second four, the third nine. As each field contains a 
crop each, in the several successive stages of the course, the whole 
number of fields collectively comprise the entire series of crops 
every year. Thus, in the list above given, there are two fields of 
wheat growing at once, three of meadow and pasture, one of corn 
and roots, one of barley, one of oats, and one in summer fallow. 

Operations in the Order of Time.— The vital consequence of 
doing every thing in the right season is known to every good 
farmer. 

To prevent confusion and embarrassment, and keep all things 
5 



98 The Farm. 

clearly and plainly before the farmer at the right time, he should 
have a small book to carry in his pocket, having every item of 
work for each week or each half month laid before his eyes. This 
can be done to the best advantage, to suit every particular locality 
and difference of climate, by marking every successive week in the 
season at the top of its respective page. Then as each operation 
severally occurs, let him place it under its proper heading ; or if 
out of season, let him place it back at the right time. Any pro- 
posed improvement can be noted down on the right page. Inter- 
esting experiments are often suggested in the course of reading or 
observation, but forgotten when the time comes to try tbem. By 
recording them in such a book, under the right week, they are 
brought at once before the mind. Such an arrangement as this 
will prevent a great deal of the confusion and vexation too often 
attendant on multifarious cares, and assist very essentially in con- 
ducting all the farm work with clock-work regularity and satis- 
faction. 

In reviewing the various items which are most immediately 
essential to good farm management, some of the most obvious 
will be — capital enough to buy the farm and to stock it well ; to 
select a size compatible with these requisites ; to lay it out in the 
best manner ; to provide it well with fences, gates, and buildings ; 
to select the best animals, and the best implements to be had 
reasonably ; to bring the soil into good condition, by draining, 
manuring, and good culture ; to have every part under a good 
rotation of crops ; and every operation arranged so as all to be 
conducted systematically, without clashing or confusion. An 
attention to all these points would place agriculture on a very dif- 
ferent footing from its present condition in many places, and with 
most farmers. The business, then, instead of being repulsive, as 
it so frequently is to our young men, would be attended with 
real enjoyment and pleasure. 

But in all improvements, in all enterprises, the great truth must 
not be forgotten, that success is not to be expected without dili- 
gence and industry. We must sow in spring and cultivate well 
in summer, if we would reap an abundant harvest in autumn. 
When we see young farmers commence in life without a strict 
attention to business, which they neglect for mere pleasure, well 
may we in imagination see future crops lost by careless tillage— 



Farm Management. 99 

broken fences, unhinged gates, and fields filled with weeds— tools 
destroyed by heedlessness, property wasted by recklessness, and 
disorder and confusion triumphant ; and unpaid debts, duns, and 
executions already hanging over the premises. But, on the other 
hand, to see cheerful- faced, ready-handed industry, directed by 
reason and intelligence, and order, energy, and economy, guiding 
the operations of the farm — with smooth, clean fields, and neat, 
trim fences — rich, verdant pastures, and fine cattle enjoying them ; 
and broad, waving meadows and golden harvests, and waste and 
extravagance driven into exile, we need not fear the success of 
such a farmer ; debts can not stare him in the face, nor duns enter 
his threshold. 

It is such enterprise as this that must place our country on a 
substantial basis. Agriculture, in a highly improved state, must 
be the means which, next to the righteousness which truly exalts 
a nation, will contribute to its enduring prosperity. All trades 
and commerce depend on this great art as their foundation. The 
cultivation of the soil and of plants was the earliest occupation of 
man. It has, in all ages, been his chief means of subsistence ; it 
still continues to furnish employment to the great majority of the 
human race. It is truly the great art of peace, as during wars and 
commotions it has languished and declined, but risen again, in 
ctrength and vigor, when men have lived at peace with each other ; 
it has then flourished and spread, converted the wilderness into 
life and beauty, and refreshed and adorned nature with embellished 
culture. For its calm and tranquil pleasures — for its peaceful and 
healthful labors— away from the fretful and feverish life of crowd- 
ed cities, "in the free air and beneath the bright sun of heaven'" 
— many who have spent the morning and noon of their lives in 
the anxious cares of commercial life, have long sighed for a seen* 
of peace and of quietude for the evening of their days. 



100 



The Farm. 



VIII. 

FARM CROPS. 

Let It rain potatoeB. — Shalespeare. 

-THE EDIBLE GRAIN 

1. Indian Corn — Zea Mays. 





AIZE or Indian corn is cultivated in all 
countries and climates. It is a native of 
America, where the aborigines had cultivated 
it from time immemorial. It now forms 
the most important grain crop of this country, 
growing with luxuriance in every State of the Union, 
and yielding ample harvests everywhere. 
The varieties of maize in cultivation are almost numberless, 
and new sorts are constantly being produced. No plant, per- 
haps, is equally susceptible of modification by hybridizing, 
cultivation, soil, and climate. At the North it is dwarf in its 
habit, and requires but three or four months to bring it to ma- 
turity, while at the South it reaches a magnificent height, and 
is much longer in maturing. A kind of corn cultivated in 
Oregon has a separate sheath or envelop for every distinct ker- 
nel; but in the climate of New York it soon loses this charac- 
teristic, and assumes the more comprehensive husk. So the 
low growing, early Northern corn, if cultivated for a few years 



Farm Chops. 101 

at the South, becomes taller, larger, and later ; thus approxi- 
mating to the Southern varieties. 

The principal varieties of Indian corn in extensive use for 
field culture in the United States are the Big White, Big Yellow, 
Little White, Little Yellow, and Yirginia Gourd Seed (yellow 
and white). Of each of these there are many sub-varieties. 
The King Philip or Brown Corn, a very early and small-growing, 
but productive variety, is much approved in the more Northern 
States ; and Peabody's Prolific or Tillering Corn, said to be a 
wonderfully productive sort, is adapted to the Southern and 
Middle States ; but it has not yet been extensively tested. In 
the selection of varieties, choose for general planting those that 
have been 'proved, in your own vicinity, as the best sort of one 
locality may prove inferior in another. For trial, get new sorts 
from a more northern latitude, especially where earliness is 
particularly desirable. 

The best soil for corn is a rich loam, but good crops are pro- 
duced, with proper manuring, on light, sandy land. A strong 
clay, or a poor, wet soil, Will not produce a good crop. Corn is 
a gross feeder, and, except on very light, sandy soils, fresh, un- 
fermented manure is best for it. Ashes may be added, or ap- 
plied as a top-dressing, with great advantage ; also the salt and 
lime mixture. 

Indian corn should always be planted in hills, and in straight 
rows, both ways, for convenience of cultivation. The distance 
apart of the hills should be from three to five feet, varying with 
the sort of corn and the quality of the land. Prom three to 
five stalks in a hill is better than a larger number. Soak the 
seed one or two days in a solution of common salt, or, better 
still, of saltpeter, after which apply a coat of tar and plaster, 
according to the directions given in Chapter II. This will not 
only accelerate the growth of the plant, but also afford an effi- 
cient protection against both worms and birds. As to the 
proper depth for covering the seed, much difference of opinion 
exists. We think a depth of one inch, in soil of medium con- 
sistency and humidity, and of two or two and a half inches m 



102 The Farm. 

a dry, sandy soil is sufficient. Plant so soon as the ground Is 
sufficiently warm and dry, without respect to the day of the 
month. The blossoming or leafing of certain trees may be 
taken as a guide. Our time is when the flower-buds on the 
apple-trees begin to burst open. 

The after-culture of Indian corn may mostly be performed 
with a light plow and a good cultivator. It should be com- 
menced soon after the plants show themselves above ground ; 
but deep culture of every kind should be discontinued after the 
roots have spread through the soil, as they can not be disturbed 
without great injury. Hilling or heaping the earth about the 
plants is an absurd and injurious process, which, instead of 
helping to support them, as many suppose, greatly weakens the 
stalks, by destroying or covering up the prop-roots with which 
Nature has supplied them. This compels them to partially 
exhaust themselves by putting forth others, which after all can 
not efficiently perform their office. Indian corn requires very 
little, if any, earthing. 

In reference to harvesting Indian corn, a variety of opinions 
prevail. Some advocate topping it soon after the kernels have 
become glazed or checked, believing that such a course hastens 
the ripening of the grain, and that the fodder thus cut is much 
more valuable than when left till the corn is fully ripened. In 
these opinions the advocates of topping are undoubtedly cor- 
rect ; but, on the other hand, experiments seem to prove that 
the weight of the grain and the number of bushels per acre is 
considerably lessened by thus cutting the stalks. The more 
common practice at present, except at the South, is to let the 
crop stand till the kernels are principally glazed, and then cut- 
ting all near the surface of the ground, and shocking in the 
field, to remain till dry enough to husk. The grain loses a little 
in weight, no doubt, by this process, but the fodder is more 
valuable than when it stands till fully ripened, and the crop 
thus treated is placed beyond injury from frost. This, for the 
Northern and Middle States, we consider the best way to har- 
vest Indian corn ; although a somewhat greater bulk and weight 



Fakm Crops. 103 

of grain inay be obtained, if the frosts be long enough deferred, 
by allowing nature to take its course. 

Corn should be perfectly dried in the field, husked, and 
stored in an airy loft, or in a properly constructed granary or crib. 
The proper selection and saving of seed is of great import- 
ance. It should be selected in the field from the earliest and 
largest ears of the most prolific stalks. In this way astonishing 
improvements in a variety may be gradually made. Thomas 
N". Baden, Esq., of Prince George County, Md., by carefully 
selecting the best seed in his field for a long series of years, 
baving special reference to those stalks which produced the 
greatest number of ears, ultimately obtained a variety which 
yields from four to ten ears to the single stalk. 

In husking seed corn, leave a few of the husks upon the ears, 
with which to braid several of them together, for convenience 
in hanging them up. They should be hung in a dry, airy loft. 
In shelling, reject both extremities of the ear where the kernels 
are imperfect or misshapen. 

The expense per acre of cultivating corn varies greatly in 
different parts of the country, being influenced by soil, climate, 
cost of manure, price of labor, etc. For New York, Judge Buel 
estimates as follows : 

One plowing (suppose a clover lay) $2 00 

Harrowing and planting 2 00 

Two hoeings 3 75 

Harvesting 3 00 

Rent of land 5 00 

Total $15 75 

This estimate does not include manure, which is generally 
essential, and would add from five to ten dollars to the expense. 
In New England the whole expense varies from twenty-five to 
fifty dollars. A farmer near Philadelphia estimates it at 
twenty-three dollars in his neighborhood ; another, at Kipley, 
Ohio, gives the following : 

" I subjoin my account with a corn-field of eighteen acres. 
The ground and the corn have been measured — there is no 
guess work about it. 



104 



The Faem, 



' ; Timber — originally walnut, ash, sugar maple, and beech — 
has been under cultivation twenty years — last year was in 
wheat, and the year before in corn. Tne soil dark — ten inches 
deep, with a clay bottom — was broken up eight inches deep 
with a span of horses : 

Team and hand, 12£ days' breaking, $2 $25 60 

Cost of seed, laying off, and planting 13 05 

80} days' work, harrowing, plowing, hoeing, etc., 8Tj cents 26 90 

Use of team, equal to 26} days single, 52 cents 13 91 

Eepairing tools 1 00 

Entire cost, board, labor, and all $80 86 

" The yield is 1,350 bushels, costing before gathering not quite 
six cents per bushel."* 

Here no manure is used, we presume, and the soil requires 
less cultivation than at the East, in order to produce good crops. 
The expense per acre, exclusive of harvesting, according to 
this estimate, is less than $4 50. 

But, leaving these estimates out of the 
account, the fact that corn is generally 
one of the most profitable crops that a 
farmer can cultivate, may be set down 
as an established fact. 

2. Wheat — Triticum of species. 

The origh? of wheat is unknown; 

but it is certain that it was cultivated 

upward of a thousand years before the 

Christian era, and that more than one 

sort was known at that time, for it is 

stated in the book of Ezekiel (xxvii. 7) 

that "Judah traded in wheat of Min- 

nith." 11 Columella, who wrote about the 

time of Christ, observes that, " The chief and the most profitable 

corns for men are common wheat and bearded wheat." 

Botanists describe about thirty species of wheat, and soma 




HEADS OF WHBAT. 



* " W. G. A.*' ia Country Gentleman 



Fakm Crops. 105 

hundreds of varieties. The species mainly cultivated in the 
United States are the Winter "Wheat and the Spring "Wheat, in 
their numerous varieties. 

In your choice of varieties it is hest to he governed, as in 
the case of Indian corn, by the experience either of yourself or 
others. From the ever-varying character of the various kinds 
of seed, their superiority at one time and locality, and their 
inferiority at other times and in other situations, it would he 
worse than useless for us to recommend any particular variety. 
Depend upon known and tried sorts till, by experiments on a 
small scale, you are satisfied that you have obtained something 
better. 

Wheat thrives best on a strong, clayey loam, but many light 
and all calcareous soils, if in a proper condition, will give a 
good yield. A glance at the table on page 28 will show that 
potash, lime, and phosphoric acid enter largely into the compo- 
sition of the grain, and that both lime and silica abound in the 
straw ; for this reason, rich vegetable soils generally, being de- 
ficient in these elements, are not well adapted to wheat. On 
such soils there is always a tendency to rapid growth, large but 
weak straw, and light grain ; and a liability both to lodge and 
to rust. A remedy, however, may be found in the applica- 
tion of ashes, lime, bone-dust, etc. The soil should be deep 
and well pulverized wiih the plow and the harrow. Under- 
draining and subsoil plowing add greatly to the amount of 
the crop. 

Select seed that is free from the seeds of weeds and from 
smut, if this be possible ; but, in any event, it is well, previous 
to sowing, to wash it in a strong brine made of salt and water, 
taking care to skim off all light and foreign seeds. If the 
grain be smutty, repeat the washing in another clean brine, 
when it may be taken out and intimately mixed with about one 
twelfth of its bulk of pulverized quicklime. 

The time for sowing in the Northern States is from the tenth 
to the twentieth of September, but it is often successfully sown, 
both earlier and later. Sow broadcast, at the rate of from 
5* 



106 The Faem. 

three to five pecks to the acre, and harrow thoroughly. Boiling 
is beneficial, especially on light soils. 

" Wheat is subject to the attack of the Hessian fly, if sown 
too early in the fall, and again the ensuing spring, there being 
two annual swarms of the fly, early in May and September. 
When thus invaded, harrowing or rolling, by which the mag- 
gots or flies are displaced or driven off, is the only remedy of 
much avail. Occasionally, other flies, and sometimes wheat 
worms, commit great depredation. There is no effectual rem- 
edy known against any of these marauders, beyond rolling, 
brushing, and harrowing." 

Smut is a parasitic fungus, of a brown or blackish color, 
which grows upon the head and destroys the grain. We have 
indicated the only remedy with which we are acquainted, in 
speaking of the preparation of the seed. 

" The grain should be cut immediately after the lowest part 
of the stalk becomes yellow, while the grain is yet in tho 
dough state, and easily compressible between the thumb and 
finger. Kepeated experiments have demonstrated that wheat 
cut at this time will yield more in measure, of heavier 
weight, and a larger quantity of sweet, white flour. If early 
cut, a longer time is required for curing before storing or 
threshing." 

Spring wheat should be sown so early as the ground will 
admit. The best crops are raised on land that has been 
plowed the previous fall, and sown without additional plowing, 
but harrowed-in thorougbly. 

Propagation may be extended with incredible rapidity by 
dividing the plant. The English Philosophical Transactions 
give the result of a trial, made by planting a single grain on the 
2d of June. " On the 8th of August it was taken up and sepa- 
rated into eighteen parts, and each planted by itself. These 
were subdivided and planted, between 15th of September and 
15th of October, and again the following spring. From this 
careful attention, in a fertile soil, 500 plants were obtained, some 
containing 100 stalks bearing heads of a large size ; and the 



Farm Crops. 



107 



t^tal produce within the year was 386,840 grains from the single 
one planted." 

3. Eye — Secede Cereale. 

This plant is supposed to be a native of the Caspian Cauca- 
sian desert. It is more hardy than wheat, and will flourish on 
soils too poor or too destitute of lime for wheat. It has taken 
the place of wheat in many portions of the 
country, where repeated crops of the latter have 
exhausted the soil of some of the requisite ele- 
ments for its growth. The best soil for it is a 
rich, sandy loam, but it grows freely on the 
lightest sandy and gravelly soils that are capable 
of sustaining any kind of vegetation. The di- 
rections for the preparation of soil and seed, and 
for cultivation, harvesting, etc., are the same as 
for wheat; but it is sometimes sown among 
standing corn and hoed in, the ground being left 
as level as possible. So soon as the corn is ma- 
tured, it is cut up by the roots and removed to 
the sides of the field, when the ground is thor- 
oughly rolled. 

Winter rye and spring rye are varieties of the 
same species, and may readily be transformed 
byb. into each other. Sow from five pecks to two 
bushels to the acre, according to the quality of the soil, the 
richest lands demanding most. "Winter rye may be sown from 
the 20th of August to the 20th of September, and spring rye 
so soon as the state of the soil will permit in the spring. 

Eye, when ground and unbolted, is much used iu New England 
to mix with Indian corn meal, for bread-making. The corn 
meal is scalded, and the loaves baked for a long time. The 
product is known as " rye-and-Indian bread," and is much es- 
teemed and very wholesome. There 'is a peculiar aroma and 
flavor connected with the husk of the grain, which is lost in 
the bolted flour. Dr. Thaer, the distinguished German physi- 
cian and agricultural writer, says that "this substance has a 




108 



The Faem. 



singularly strengthening, refreshing, and beneficial effeci on the 
animal frame." 

4. The Oat — Avena Sativa. 

This grain will grow on any soil and in almost any climate. 
It is affected less by disease, and has fewer insect enemies than 
most of the cereals. The wire worm, 
however, occasionally proves destruc- 
tive to it, when sown on fresh sod. 
The remedy in this case is to turn 
over the sod late in the fall, just be- 
fore the severe winter frosts. 

There are many varieties and sub- 
varieties of the oat. Loudon describes 
the following : 

" The White or Common Oat is in 
most general cultivation in England 
and Scotland, and is known by its 
white husk and kernel. 

" The Black Oat, known by its black nEAD OF th e oat. 

husk, and cultivated on poor soils in the north of England and 
Scotland. 

" The Red Oat, known by its brownish-red husk, thinner and 
more flexible stem, and firmly-attached grains. It is early, 
suffers little from winds, meals well, and suits windy situations 
and a late climate. 

" The Poland Oat, known by its thick, white husk, awnless 
chaff, solitary grains, short, white kernel, and short, stiff straw. 
It requires a dry, warm soil, but is very prolific. 

" The Black Poland Oat is one of the best varieties ; it some- 
times weighs 50 lbs. to the bushel. 

"The Friesland or Dutch oat has plump, thinrskinned, white 
grains, mostly double, and the large ones sometimes awned. 
It has longer straw than the Poland, but in other respects re- 
sembles it. 

"The Potato Oat has large, plump, rather thick-skinned, 







Fabm Crops. 109 

white grains, double and treble, with longer straw than either 
of the two last. It is now almost the only kind raised in the 
north of England and south of Scotland, and brings a higher 
price in London than any other variety. 

" The Georgian Oat is a large-grained, remarkably profitable 
variety, and on rich soil, in good tilth, has produced more than 
any other variety. 

"The Siberian or Tartarian is by some conceded a distinct 
6pecies. The grains are black or bsown, thin and small, and 
turned mostly to one side of the panicle, and the straw is coarse 
and reedy. It is little cultivated in England, but is found very 
suitable for poor soils and exposed situations. 

"The Winter Oat is sown at the rate of two bushels per acre 
in October, the plants are luxuriant and tiller well, and afford 
good winter and spring pasture for ewes and lambs, and when 
these are shut out, it affords an ample crop of grain in August." 

The heaviest oat cultivated in the United States is the Impe- 
rial ; and it is preferred by many to all others. It is bright and 
plump, and yields a large proportion of nutritive matter. It 
has proved very productive in the Northern and Middle States. 
But the variety most cultivated is the common "White Oat, 
which is hardy and a good bearer. 

The only oat that will mature with certainty in the Southern 
States is the Egyptian. It is sound, hardy, and moderately 
productive. It is sown in autumn. 

At the North, oats may be sown from the first of March till 
the last of May ; but the earliest sown usually yield the best 
crops. From two to four bushels to the acre are sown in this 
country; but in England they sow from four to six. The land 
should be prepared by plowing and harrowing, after which the 
seed should be sown broadcast, and harrowed in. On most 
soils rolling is beneficial. 

Oats may be mowed or cut with the cradle or the sickle. 
They are fit to harvest when they begin to turn yellow. 

As an article of diet, the oat is not properly appreciated in 
this country, oatmeal being little eaten except by foreigners. 



110 



The Farm. 



In Ireland and Scotland it is a common article of diet. It 
would be well for us if it were so here. It is wholesome and 
strengthening. It is prepared bj grinding the kiln-dried seeds, 
which have been previously deprived of their husks and outer 
Bkin. 

5. Barley — Hordeum of species. 

In Europe this grain ranks next to wheat in importance ; but 
it is much less extensively . 

cultivated in the United 
States. 

Professor Lowe enu- 
merates six species of 
barley, but two only are 
in general cultivation — 
the Two-Rowed and the 
Six-Rowed. In England, 
the latter is preferred for 
its superior hardiness and 
productiveness; but the 
former is more generally 
cultivated in this country, 
the Six-Rowed being, 
with us, more subject to the smut. 

Like rye, it may be made either a winter or a spring grain ; 
but in this country it is almost universally sowed in the spring. 
Sow so soon as the ground is sufficiently dry, on land plowed 
the previous fall. If sown on sod, it may be lightly plowed in, 
and afterward harrowed or rolled. Sow about two bushels to 
the acre, on soil of medium richness. If sown very early, a 
smaller quantity of seed will suffice. A loam of medium con- 
sistency, between light and heavy, is best for it. Barn-yard 
manures must never be applied directly to this grain. Steeping 
the seed twenty-four hours in a weak solution of saltpeter is 
beneficial. The roller is sometimes applied to the field, when 
the plants are two or three inches high, with great benefit. 

It is of great importance to harvest barley at the proper time. 




HEAD8 OF BJLBLEY. 



Farm Crops. 



Ill 



If cut too early, the kernels shrink very much, and if suffered 
to stand too long, the grain wastes at the slightest touch, the 
heads bi-eaking off and falling to the ground. It is known to 
be ripe by the disappearance of the reddish cast from the ear, 
the drooping of the heads, and the yellowish color of the stalks. 
It may be stacked like wheat. 

Barley is very useful as an article of human food, but, like 
oats, is too much neglected in the United States, being used 
principally for malting and brewing. In the form of pearl 
barley, which is the small, round part of the kernel that 
remains after the skin and a part of the seed are ground off, it 
is excellent when cooked in the same way as rice — either simply 
boiled or in puddings. 

6. Eice — Oryza Sativa. 
Eice probably affords food for more human beings than any 
other plant. In China, and nearly the 
whole length of the southern part of 
Asia ; throughout the innumerable and 
densely populated islands of the Pacific 
and Indian oceans ; in the southern part 
of Europe, and a large extent of Africa ; 
and through no inconsiderable portion 
of Forth and South America and the 
West Indies, it is extensively grown, and 
forms the staple food of the inhabitants. 
The varieties of rice most grown in 
South Carolina and Georgia, which have 
hitherto been the greatest rice-producing 
States of the Union, are the Gold-seed 
rice, the Guinea, the Common White, 
and the White-bearded. There are sev- 
eral other varieties, but generally infe- 
rior to the foregoing. The best are 
produced by careful cultivation on soils 
iuited to this grain, and by a careful selection of seed. 




HEAD OF EICE. 



in The Farm. 

The method of cultivation pursued on the rice lands of the 
lower Mississippi, as detailed by Dr. Cartwright, a practica. 
planter, is as follows : 

"The seed is sown broadcast about as thick as wheat, and 
harrowed-in with a light harrow, having many teeth; the 
ground being first well plowed and prepared by ditches and 
embankments for inundation. It is generally sown in March, 
and immediately after sowing, the water is let on, so as barely 
to overflow the ground. The water is withdrawn on the sec- 
ond, third, or fourth day, or as soon as the grain begins to 
swell. The rice very soon after comes up and grows finely. 
When it has attained about three inches in height, the water is 
again let on, the top leaves being left a little above the water. 
Complete immersion would kill the plant. A fortnight pre- 
vious to harvest the water is drawn oif to give the stalks 
strength, and to dry the ground for the convenience of the 
reapers. 

" The same measure of ground will yield three times as much 
rice as wheat. The only labor after sowing is to see that the 
rice is properly irrigated; except in some localities, where 
aquatic plants prove troublesome, the water effectually destroy- 
ing all others. The rice grounds of the lower Mississippi pro- 
duce about seventy-five dollars' worth of rice per acre. The 
variety called the Creole white rice is considered to be the best. r * 

Upland rice is cultivated entirely with the plow and harrow, 
and grows well on the pine barrens. A kind of shovel plow, 
drawn by one horse, is driven through the unbroken pine for- 
est, not a tree being cut or belted, and no grubbing being neces- 
sary, as there is little or no undergrowth. The plow makes a 
shallow furrow about an inch or two deep, the furrows about 
three feet apart. The rice is dropped into them and covered 
with a harrow. The middles, or spaces between the furrows, 
are not broken up until the rice attains several inches in height. 
One or two plowings suffice in the piney woods for its cultiva- 

* The " A •nerican Farm Book." 



Fakm Ckops. 



113 



tion — weeds and grass, owing to the nature of the soil, not 
being troublesome. 

Eice prepared according to the following recipe makes a dish 
which we prefer to the richest rice pudding, and which is cer- 
tainly far more wholesome : 

Slowly simmer the rice in milk three or four hours, or til 
the grains burst and absorb the milk ; add a little sugar ; put 
the whole into a wide dish, and bake till slightly brown. Eat 
with milk or butter. 



7. Buckwheat — Polygonum Fagopyrum. 
Buckwheat is extensively cultivated in the United States ; as 
it affords a flour which is 
much esteemed as an article 
of food. It will grow with 
considerable luxuriance on 
the poorest land. It comes 
to maturity so quickly that it 
is frequently sowed upon 
ground from which wheat or 
some other crop has been 
taken. When intended for 
seed it should be sown suffi- 
ciently early to allow the 
kernel to become perfectly 
ripe — say from the middle of 
June to the first of July. In 
New York it is often sown 
in August with winter wheat, 
affording a ripe crop in the 
fall, without injury to the 
wheat, except so far as it may exhaust the soil. It is sown 
broadcast, at the rate of from a bushel to a bushel and a half 
per acre. In harvesting it is usually mowed with a scythe, and 
made into small stacks. 
Buckwheat is often used for plowing under as a green manure. 




BUCKWHEAT PLANT. 



114 The Fakm. 

This can be done where the land is too poor to produce clover 
for that purpose. When in flower, it should be first rolled, and 
then plowed in. 

8. Millet — Panicum of species. 

The species generally cultivated for the seed is the P. millia- 
ceum. As a forage crop, the German millet (P. Germanicum) 
is preferable, and is coming into extensive use, especially at the 
West. The common species is sown, either broadcast or in 
drills, from the first of May to the first of July. If for hay, it 
is best sown broadcast about five pecks to the acre. In drills, 
which is the best way when cultivated for the grain, eight 
quarts will suffice. 

Of the German millet or Hungarian grass we shall have more 
to say, under the head of the grasses. 

II.-HOW TO SHOCK GRAIN. 

Many a valuable harvest may be preserved from ruin by 
taking heed to the following hints from a practical farmer. 
They are from that excellent paper, the Ohio Farmer. The 
readers of this little manual shall have no excuse for the too 
common awkward and inefficient modes of shocking grain. 
Here are our sensible farmer's rules : 

" 1. Grain should be firmly bound in smaller sheaves than it 
is almost universally found. Loosely bound sheaves can not be 
well shocked. They also admit more rain than tightly bound 
ones. 

"2. Two men can shock better and more advantageously 
lhan one. 

" 3. Let the shocker always take two sheaves at a time, hold- 
ing them with his elbow against his side, bringing the heads 
together with hands well spread upon them. Lift them as high 
as possible, bringing them with force, in as nearly a perpen- 
dicular position as can be, to the ground. Never make the 
second thrust, it' the sheaves stand erect, for every one after 
the first, by breaking the butts, makes the matter worse. 



Farm Chops. 115 

" 4. Then let two persons bring down two sheaves each at the 
tame time, as before described, being extremely careful to keep 
them perpendicular. The form of shock at this * * * 
period may be represented thus : * * * 

"5. As lastly stated, two more each, thus: „, * 
The reader will perceive we now have ten sheaves, * * 

forming a circle as nearly as can be. * ,„ 

"6. While one man presses the head of the * * 
shock firmly together, let the other orealc, not bend, the two 
cap sheaves, and place them on, well spreading heads and butts. 

"The main points are, to have grain well hound, sheaves 
made to stand in an erect position, and then to put cap sheaves 
on firmly, and every gust of wind will not demolish your work. 

" Grain is usually shocked in this manner : One sheaf is made 
to stand alone, another is leaned against it, and another, some- 
times at an angle of forty -five degrees, ' to make them stand 
up,' until a sufficient number is thought to be leaned up. 

" Now the probability is, that there is but one sheaf in the 
whole shock that has its center of gravity within its base ; as a 
matter of course, each depends on some other to hold it up 
Consequently they twist ; and if the shock does not fall down 
before the hands get the next one up, it most certainly will 
during the first rain, just when the perpendicular position is most 



III.— THE LEGUMES. 

1. The Kidney Bean — Phaseolus Vulgaris. 

The bush or dwarf kidney bean is frequently cultivated as a 
field crop. There are many sorts that may be profitably used 
for this purpose, but the Small White is generally preferred, as 
it is very prolific, quite hardy, will grow in light, poor soil, and 
is more delicately flavored than the colored varieties. The 
Long White garden bean is also good. See "The Garden" for 
& list of the best varieties for horticultural purposes. 

The bean succeeds best on a light, warm, and moderately 
fertile soil. A strong soil, or too much manure, induces a 



116 The Farm. 

tendency to run to vine, without a corresponding quantity of 
fruit. 

Plant either in hills or in drills. If you have a sower, or 
drill for putting thein in, the latter is the best mode. The drills 
may be from two to three feet apart, the hills from eighteen 
inches to two feet each way. From five to eight plants are 
enough for a hill. They must be kept clear from weeds by the 
use of the hoe or cultivator ; but should be earthed up very 
slightly, if at all. The first of June is sufficiently early to plant 
them. They are sometimes planted with corn, putting three or 
four beans in each hill. This may be done either at the time 
of planting the corn, or at the first hoeing. 

The best mode of harvesting beans with which we are ac- 
quainted is thus described by a correspondent of the Country 
Gentleman : 

" Place a small pole or stick a foot in the ground, and five or 
six above ground ; around this stick lay some stones, say from 
four to six inches high, and from twenty to thirty inches in 
diameter ; then place your beans, with the stems against the 
pole, allowing the roots to be on the opposite side ; your next 
handful you lay with the top on those last laid roots, and the 
roots of this on the pod and leaves, and so on to the top, form- 
ing, as you proceed, a sugar-loaf, keeping it round, or as you 
would build a stack, tying the top with a straw band. Thus 
you throw the water all to the outside, the beans being so com- 
pact as not to admit water. You can by this means allow them 
to remain in the field until you are ready to thresh them in 
November or December, the stones at bottom keeping them 
dry. In cartiug to the barn I loosen the pole by shaking, >d 
take hold bottom and top, and throw pole and beans into the 
wagon ; by doing so you do not shell the beans." 

As an article of food, the bean has been undervalued. It is, 
when properly cooked, very palatable and exceedingly nutri- 
tious. It abounds in legu?ni?i, which is analogous to casein, the 
animal principle in milk, and is essentially the same as the 
fibrin of lean meat. 



Fakm Ceops. 117 

Sheep are very fond of beans, and the straw or haulm inakea 
an excellent fodder for them. No other animal, we believe, 
will eat beans raw ; but cattle, hogs, and poultry thrive on them 
when cooked. 

2. The Pea — Pisum Sativum. 

The' Marrowfat and Small Yellow peas are the sorts generally 
used for field culture. The Marrowfat is the richer and better 
pea, and is to be preferred for good soils. The Small Yellow 
thrives on poorer soils, and is therefore, in some cases, more 
profitably cultivated. In some parts of the South a very prolific 
bush pea is cultivated and much esteemed for the table, both 
green and dry. 

Prepare the ground as for any other spring crop, by plowing 
and harrowing, and sow broadcast, at the rate of two or two 
and a half bushels to the acre. Cover them with the harrow 
or the cultivator, the latter implement being preferable, and 
smooth the ground by the use of the roller. 

In harvesting the pea, some farmers hook them up with a 
scythe, and some rake them up by hand with the common 
rake ; but the most expeditious and best way, by far, is to use 
the horse-rake in gathering this crop. 

Peas are easily threshed and prepared for market, and may 
be made a very profitable crop ; from thirty to forty bushels 
per acre being not an uncommon yield. As an article of food, 
they are excellent "both for man and beast." 

The great enemy of the pea is the pea-weevil or pea-bug, 
which is too well known to require description. It deposits its 
egg in the growing pea, by piercing the tender pod. As a 
remedy, some recommend keeping the seed in tight vessels over 
one year. This plan, if universally adopted, would probably 
lead to the total extermination of this destructive insect ; but 
as this is not likely to be the case, the only practicable way to 
avoid its ravages is by late sowing. It has been ascertained 
that it is limited to a certain period for depositing its eggs; 
peas, therefore, which are planted sufficiently late in the season 



118 The Farm. 

to postpone their seeding beyond this period, are not injured. 
The time for planting to avoid the bug ranges, in different lati- 
tudes where experiments have been made, from May 20th to 
June lOtl. 

The Chinese Prolific pea and the Japan pea are new sorts, 
which seem to promise valuable additions to our leguminous 
crops. 

The plant called Cow-pea or Indian pea, and sometimes Stock 
pea, is extensively cultivated in some of the Southern States, 
both as a forage crop and a fertilizer. It is sown broadcast, in 
drills, or hoed in among Indian corn, when the latter is laid by 
for the season. When intended for cattle, it is harvested before 
the seed is fully ripe. It may be harvested in the same way as 
the common pea. 

3. The Pea-Nut — Arachis Eypogcea. 

This is a legume bearing its pods under the surface of the 
ground. It was originally brought from Africa. 

A North Carolina planter thus describes the mode of cultiva- 
tion: "So soon as the frost is out of the ground, the land is 
broken up, and about the middle of April laid off with the plow 
thirty-three inches each way; two or three peas are then 
dropped in the crosses thus made. The plants are kept clean 
with hoes and plows until the vines cover the ground; but no 
dirt is put on the vines. In October they are dug with a rake 
or plow. Hogs are then turned into the field, and they soon 
fatten upon the peas left upon the ground. When the vines are 
left upon the land for the hogs to feed upon, there is no crop 
that improves the land so much. 

IV.-ESCULENT BOOTS. 

1. The Potato — Solanum Tuberosum. 

This most valuable of all the esculent roots is a native of the 
American continent, and is now found in a wild state in parts 
of South America. It was probably introduced into southern 



Farm Crops. 119 

Europe by the Spanish adventurers, and into England by Sir 
"Walter Ealeigh. In this country it has been cultivated from 
the first settlement; but until a comparatively recent period 
only to a limited extent. 

In reference to the choice of varieties for planting, the best 
advice we can give will be simply a repetition of our recom- 
mendations in respect to several other plants : Choose such as 
have been well tested by yourself or others, and found adapted 
to the soil and purposes for which tbey are to be cultivated. 
Try your experiments with new sorts, on a small scale, and 
with close observation of the results. Experiment also, if lei- 
sure serve, in the production of new varieties from the seeds 
found in the balls. See directions in " The Garden." 

A fair crop of potatoes may be produced on almost any soil, 
properly manured and prepared and well cultivated, but a rich 
loam, of medium humidity, is best. If fresh or unfermented 
manures be used, they should be spread on the land, and plowed 
under, and not scattered in the drills or hills, as they are apt to 
injure the flavor of the potatoes. Lime, crushed bones, gypsum, 
salt, and ashes are excellent special manures for the potato. 
The soil should be made loose and mellow before planting. 

In reference to seed, planting, and cultivation, opinions and 
practices differ widely. We have not room to discuss the va- 
rious points in controversy between different scientific and 
practical agriculturists. All that our plan will permit is to give 
our own mode of cultivation, leaving our readers to try it in 
connection with other methods, and adopt the best. 

We choose for seed good, well ripened, medium-sized pota- 
toes, such as we would select for the table. These we should 
prefer to plant whole, but, seed being scarce and dear, we think 
it economical to cut each into two or four pieces, according to 
the size. We cut them three or four days, at least, before they 
are wanted for planting, roll them in plaster of Paris, and 
spread them on the floor in an airy loft to dry. 

We plant in drills from two and a half to three and a half 
feet apart, according to the strength of the soil and the sort of 



120 The Faem. 

potatoes planted, some varieties producing much larger tops 
than others. On some soils we should plant in hills, for conve- 
nience of cultivation with the plow and cultivator, but on light 
and loamy soils tolerably free from weeds and unobstructed by 
stones, we prefer the drills. "We drop our sets from six to nine 
inches apart in the drills, and cover to a depth of three or four 
inches. 

When the shoots have fairly made their appearance above 
giound, we run a plow between the rows, throwing the earth 
well to the plants, and following with a hoe, if necessary. This 
plowing, or plowing and hoeing, are repeated once or twice 
before the blossoms appear, but not afterward. 

The harvesting is commenced so soon as the tops are mostly 
dead. We allow only sufficient exposure to the sun to dry the 
tubers, and then store them at once in bins or barrels, where 
they will be secure against frost, covering them with straw or 
dry sand, to prevent the circulation of air. 

For au early crop we plant only the seed ends, but for the 
earliest possible crop we should proceed as follows : 

Select medium-sized or large tubers early in February, and 
prepare them by carefully cutting out all the eyes, except the 
crow-eye or eyes (for there are sometimes two of them), and 
then place them in a layer, on some dry sand, in a shallow box, 
and cover them with sand, chaff, or straw, and keep them in a 
warm room, where light can be freely admitted. When the 
shoots appear, they must be exposed to the light as much as 
possible, by partially removing the covering during the day, 
but keeping them carefully covered at night, when there is any 
danger from cold. The leaves soon become green and tolerably 
hardy. Early in March they may be planted out in a warm 
southern exposure, covering them so as to just expose the leaves 
above ground. Give them a covering of straw or litter at night, 
whenever there is danger from frost. By this means you may 
have potatoes fit for the table two or three weeks earlier than 
by planting in the ordinary way. A modification of this plan 
is to forward the sets prepared, as before, on a heap of fer- 



Eakm Ckops. 121 

menting manure, in some warm exposure in the open air, cov- 
ering them well at night when the weather is cold. 

In " The Garden" (page 76) we have given a description of 
the method pursued by Mr. Peabody, of Georgia, for raising 
potatoes under straw. "We are convinced that his plan is a 
good one for the South, and late experiments seem to prove 
that it works well at the North also. A correspondent of the 
Ohio Valley Farmer, for instance, says : 

" Having a quantity of wheat straw near a piece of ground I 
was planting with potatoes, I concluded to try the straw-cover- 
ing process. The soil, if I may so call it, was hard yellow 
clay. On the surface, and without any preparation of the 
ground, I distributed my potatoes, covering them some six or 
eight inches with straw, and did nothing more to them. They 
grew finely, and in the fall I took hold of the tops and " drawed" 
my crop. I found the tubers of a good size, and nice, bright, 
and clean enough for the boiler! and tbe yield much greater 
than of those planted in sod ground in the usual way." 

Another correspondent of the same paper makes the follow- 
ing strong statement : 

" "We have the three last years planted our potatoes under 
straw, and have got more than double the quantity, on the 
same ground, with less work in planting and gathering. Our 
plan is to prepare the ground as thoroughly as possible, then 
mark it out with the plow, as close as we can ; drop the pota- 
toes six inches apart in same, cover as lightly as possible with 
the soil, then take the wagon containing the straw, and spread 
lightly to cover the ground. In this manner the work is done 
till harvest-time. "We then take the potato-hook, and rake the 
straw into winrows, and our crop is nearly all in sight, ready 
to be gathered." 

We have not ourself sufficiently tested this mode of planting, 
to speak with confidence from our own experience. Let our 
thousands of readers try it, and report through the papers ! 

" Of the potato disease or rot," as we have remarked in "The 
Garden," "little can profitably be here said. Its cause and 



122 The Farm. 

remedy have yet to be made known. As preventives, a dry, 
or an underdrained soil ; the use of lime, salt, and ashes ; the 
absence of fresh stable manure; early planting; and new, 
healthy varieties, may be confidently recommended." Thorough 
underdraining alone is, we believe, generally effective in pre- 
venting the disease. 

2. The Sweet Potato — Convolvulus Batatas. 

This is the potato of the South, and is much cultivated in the 
Middle and Western States. In its perfection, as it grows in 
South Carolina and the other extreme Southern States, it is the 
best of all the esculent roots. 

The varieties most cultivated are the Small Spanish, long, 
purplish color, grows in clusters, very productive, and of good 
quality ; Brimstone, sulphur-colored, long, large, and excellent ; 
Red Bermuda, the best early potato ; Common Yam, root ob- 
long and large, the best keeper, and very productive. 

A dry, loamy soil, inclining to sand, is best for the sweet po- 
tato. The manure should be plowed in, and the ground well 
pulverized. A top-dressing of wood ashes is very beneficial. 

The Spanish varieties are generally planted where they are 
to remain, either whole or cut up into sets. But these may, 
and the yams must be, propagated by slips, as they grow larger 
and yield more abundantly. 

To raise slips, select a sunny spot, sheltered by fences or 
buildings, and lay it off in beds four feet wide, with alleys of 
the same width between them. Slope the beds a little toward 
the sun, and add plenty of well-rotted manure, if the soil be 
not already rich. Do this in February or early in March. 
Choose large, smooth, healthy-looking potatoes, and lay them 
regularly over the bed, an inch or two apart, and cover them 
with three or four inches of soil from the alleys. It requires 
ten bushels of potatoes, thus bedded, for an acre of ground. 

Lay off your ground in low, horizontal ridges or beds, the 
crowns of which should be three feet apart, and about six 
inches high, on which, when the slips are ready, w hich will be 



Farm Crops. 123 

about the middle of April, plant them out eighteen inches 
apart, one plant in a place, choosing a wet or cloudy day for 
the operation. Draw the slips when from three to four inches 
high, by placing the left hand on the bed, near the sprout, to 
steady the root and prevent it from being pulled up with the 
sprout. This is loosened with the right hand fron: the parent, 
tuber, which will continue, if undisturbed, to produce a suc- 
cession of slips till the first of July. Stir the soil frequently, 
keeping the weeds well subdued. Be careful not to cover the 
vines, but if they become attached to the soil, loosen them from 
it, so that the whole vigor of the plant may go to the forma- 
tion of tubers. Make the hills large and flat. When they have 
been laid by, it is a good plan to fill up the spaces between the 
rows with litter, when the ground is wet, to retain the moisture. 

So soon as the tops are dead or touched by the frost, the 
*rop should be gathered. 

Sweet potatoes are difficult to keep. The following is Mr. 
Peabody's plan : 

"Let the small heaps dry during the day. In handling 
them, take care not to bruise or injure the skin, as the least 
bruise produces rapid decay. Put them up in hills containing 
thirty or forty bushels each. Make a circular trench as large 
as the hill you wish to make. Elevate the earth surrounded by 
it six inches, or at least sufficiently to prevent the access of 
moisture. Cover this with straw, and heap the potatoes upon 
it in a regular cone. If the weather be good, cover them only 
with pine or other straw for two or three days, that the pota- 
toes may be well dried before earthing up. The covering of 
straw should be three or four inches thick. Cover this with 
strips of pine bark, commencing at the base, and covering as in 
shingling, leaving a small aperture at the top for the escape of 
the heat and moisture generated within. Cover this, except 
the aperture, with earth, to the thickness of four or five inches. 
Some cover the opening in the top with a piece of pine bark, 
to keep out the rain, but a board shelter for the whole heap is 
preferable. In the spring take up the potatoes, rub off the 



124 The Faem. 

sprouts, and keep them on a dry floor. If put up with care, 
they will keep till July."* 

Baked, or roasted in hot ashes, the sweet potato is one of the 
most delicious and nutritive of all vegetables. They are also 
used for pies and puddings, and sweet-potato rolls are excellent. 

3. The Tuenip — Brassica Repa. 

In England the turnip crop is one of the most extensive and 
important in the whole compass of agricultural production. 
Fields of hundreds of acres are sometimes seen, and inclosures 
of fifteen or twenty are common. Here they are cultivated to 
a more limited extent, differences of opinion existing in refer- 
ence to the profit of their cultivation as a crop for feeding stock. 

" In the corn-growing regions of the fertile West, from the 
facility with which Indian corn can be grown, and the low 
price of it in many sections of the country, and its nutritive 
value over that of roots is such, that it is doubtless more profit- 
able growing corn than roots for feeding purposes. But in the 
Northern States, where corn is usually worth from 80 cents to 
$1 per bushel, we believe farmers would generally find it for 
their interest to grow a certain amount of roots, proportioned 
to the number of cattle and other stock they winter. Aside 
from the actual amount of nutritive food that roots afford, we 
think there can be no doubt that the winter condition of our 
farm stock would be greatly improved by a daily feed of succu- 
lent food, even if it were but four quarts per day to each animal, 
with their dry hay and straw ; but with a larger allowance of 
roots, cattle can be kept in good condition through our long 
winters on hay of poor quality, or on straw, and so they can in 
freely feeding Indian meal or oil cake ; but in sections of the 
country where corn is worth one dollar per bushel, and oil cake 
in a similar ratio, it is presumed roots would be found the 
cheapest."! 

The varieties of the turnip are numerous. The flat English 

• White's " Gardening for the South." t Country Ge/UUman. 



Farm Crops. 125 

turnip has been longest in cultivation, and still holds its place 
among most farmers, as a field crop. It thrives best on new 
land and freshly turned sod, but will grow wherever Indian 
corn can be raised. 

The English turnip may be sown from the middle of June to 
the first of August, either broadcast or in drills. If sown 
broadcast, about two pounds of seed per acre will be required. 
The seed should be lightly harrowed or bushed in. Drilling it 
in with the seed sower and cultivating with the cultivator or 
hoe is the better way. The crop will be materially assisted by 
a top-dressing of lime, ashes, and plaster, at the rate of fifteen 
or twenty bushels of the first two, and from one and a half to 
three of the last. 

English turnips are often sowed among Indian corn at the 
last hoeing, producing, in many cases, a fair crop. 

The Ruta Baga or Swedes turnip is a far more valuable root 
than the English, but requires a little more attention in cultiva- 
tion. It will grow on a heavier soil, yield as good a crop, fur- 
nish a more nutritive root ; and keep longer. 

" The Swedes turnip is generally sown in drills about two 
feet apart, and on heavy lands these should be slightly ridged. 
The plants must be successively thinned, to prevent interfering 
with such as are intended to mature, but enough should remain 
to provide for casualties. "Where there is a deficiency, they 
may be supplied by transplanting during showery weather. 
They should be left six or eight inches apart in the drills. The 
Swede turnip is a gross feeder, and requires either a rich soil or 
heavy manuring ; though the use of fresh manures has been 
supposed to facilitate the multiplication of enemies. Bones, 
ground and drilled in with the seed, or a dressing of lime, ashes, 
gypsum, and salt, are the best applications that can be made. 
The Swede should be sown from the 20th May to the 15th 
June, and earlier than the English turnip, as it takes longer to 
mature ; and two or three weeks more of growth frequently 
adds largely to the product. An early sowing, also, gives time 
to plant for another crop, in case of failure of the first. 



126 The Fakm. 

"The turnip is exposed to numerous depredators, of which 
the turnip flea-beetle is the most inveterate. It attacks the 
plant so soon as the first leaves expand, and often destroys two 
or three successive sowings. "When the fly or bug is discovered, 
the application of lime, ashes, or soot, or all combined, should 
be made upon the leaves, while the dew or a slight moisture is 
on them."* 

Harvesting should be deferred till the approach of severe 
frosts, and at the South the crop may remain in the ground till 
wanted in the winter. 

The Purple-Topped Swede, Skirving's Swede, and Ashcroft's 
Swede are approved varieties. 

4. Kohl Eabi — Brassica Oleracea. 

In England and Ireland, where the turnip has, in some places, 
shown signs of degeneracy, the Kohl Rabi has been proposed 
as a substitute, and has already come into somewhat extensive 
cultivation. It seems to possess all the good qualities of the 
turnip, with the addition of some excellences pectdiar to itself. 
It has been proved to be perfectly hardy, to stand severe frosts 
better, and to keep in store for a longer period than the Swedish 
turnip. It also resists the attacks of the fly and grub. Its 
feeding qualities have been fully tested, and all kinds of stock 
are exceedingly fond of it. When fed to milch cows it does 
not impart that turnip taste to the milk and butter, as is fre- 
quently the case when cows are freely fed with turnips. 

The average weight per statute acre has been from 27 to 31 
tons, of tops and bulbs. 

The seeds of the Green and Purple -Topped varieties have 
been extensively distributed through the agency of the Patent 
Office, during the past two or three years. So far as we have 
learned, they have fallen sbort of the Swedes in productiveness 
or weight per acre. But in all cases that have come to onr 
knowledge, the seed of the Kohl were sown at the time of 



Farm Ceops 127 

sowing the turnips. This is too late for sowing Rabi seed. 
The Irish Farmer's Gazette says : " The seed is sown in a well- 
prepared seed-bed ; about the end of February, in drills about 
a foot apart ; and in May they are transplanted in the field 
(when the plants are six or eight inches high), in rows about 
two feet asunder, and eighteen inches apart in the rows." 

5. The Caekot — Daucus Garoia. 

The carrot is looked upon with much favor as a field crop in 
some parts of the United States. It is preferred by many 
farmers to every other vegetable for feeding cattle, horses, and 
swine. A bushel of carrots cut and mixed with an equal quan- 
tity of oats is thought to be equivalent to two bushels of oats ; 
and five or six hundred bushels may easily be raised on an acre 
of good land. Rev. Mr. Coleman, of Massachusetts, says that 
he has raised them at the rate of more than a thousand bushels 
to the acre. 

The varieties mostly used for field culture are the Altringham, 
the Orange, and the "White Belgian. The last-named is very 
productive, and, growing high out of ground, is more easily 
harvested than the other sorts ; but, on the other hand, it is 
considered below the others in nutritive value. 

" It is very important to have both the soil and the manure 
for carrots free from the seeds of weeds and grasses ; the plants 
in the early stages of their growth are small and feeble, which 
makes it a slow and expensive process to eradicate the weeds, 
if abundant. "Well manured sandy, or light, loamy soils are 
best adapted to the carrot crop. The ground should be deeply 
worked, and brought to a fine tilth before sowing the seed. 
For field crops, the drills should be eighteen inches distant ; the 
plants in the rows should be thinned to six or eight inches 
apart. This ' thinning out' is a matter too frequently neglected. 
"We have frequently seen carrots growing so thickly that they 
would average a dozen or more plants to the foot ; when left 
to grow in this crowded manner, the roots must necessarily bo 
small, and the expense of harvesting greatly increased." 



128 The Farm. 

6. The Paesnep — Pastinaca Sativa. 

This root is nearly equal to the carrot in value, and large 
crops may be obtained on deep, rich, well-pulverized soil. The 
best variety for field culture is the Isle of Jersey. The cultiva- 
tion is similar to that of the carrot. The harvesting should be 
deferred till spring, unless the roots may be wanted for winter's 
use, as they keep best in tbe ground. 

The parsnep is one of the best of all our table vegetables, 
and is also excellent for cattle, sheep, and swine. The leaves 
of both parsneps and carrots are good for cattle, either green 
or dried. 

7. The Beet— Beta Vulgaris. 

The varieties most in use for field culture are the Sugar beet 
and the Mangold- Wurzel, of both of which there are several 
sub-varieties. 

Beets do well in any soil of sufficient depth and fertility, but 
they are perhaps most partial to a strong loam. If well tilled, 
they will produce large crops on a tenacious clay. We have 
raised at the rate of 800 bushels per acre, on a stiff clay, which 
had been well supplied with unfermented manure. The soil 
can not be made too rich ; and for such as are adhesive, fresh 
or unfermented manures are much the best. 

The beet should be planted in drills from twenty to twenty- 
four inches apart, at the rate of six pounds of seed to the acre. 
Cover about an inch deep. The seed should be early planted, 
or as soon as vegetation will proceed rapidly ; but it must first 
be soaked by pouring soft, scalding water on it, allowing it to 
cool to blood-heat, and remain for three or four days, then roll 
in plaster and drill it in. The culture is similar to that of car- 
rots and parsneps. 

As an article of human food, the beet is a universal favorite. 
Domestic animals are very fond of it, and swine prefer it to 
any other root except the parsnep ; and on no vegetable can 
they be kept in a better condition. 



Farm Ckops. 129 

8. Chinese Yam — Dioscorea Batatas. 

This root was introduced into France seven or eight years 
ago, and seems to have won a considerable degree of public 
estimation there. It has not had so long a period of trial here, 
but has been experimented with more or less in all parts of the 
United States, generally with ill or indifferent success. "We can 
speak of it only as an object of experiment. 

The mode of culture required by the Chinese yam is not yet 
well determined. It evidently needs a deeply spaded or trenched 
soil, and probably should be cut into sets and planted in rows 
three or four feet apart, and one foot apart in the row, and 
treated like the sweet potato, except that it requires no earth- 
ing up. The plants may be forwarded in a hot bed or in a cold 
frame under glass. 

V.— THE GKASSES. 

The grasses cultivated for the food of animals are too nu- 
merous to admit of a description in such a work as this. It is 
said that no less than two hundred varieties are cultivated in 
England. In this country we make use of fewer sorts for cul- 
tivation ; but the number and excellence of our natural grasses 
are probably unsurpassed in any qaarter of the globe. 

We will speak briefly of a few of the leading species culti- 
vated among us, noting some of their peculiar excellences and 
adaptations. 

1. Timothy — Phleum Pratense. 

Allen says : " For cultivation in the northern portion of the 
United States, I am inclined to place the Timothy first in the 
list of the grasses. It is indigneous to this country, and flour- 
ishes in all soils except such as are wet, too light, dry, or sandy ; 
and it is found in perfection on the rich clays and clay loams 
which lie between 38° and 44° north latitude. It is a peren- 
nial, easy of cultivation, hardy and of luxuriant growth, and on 
lis favorite soil yields from one and a half to two tons of hay 
per acre at one cutting." 

It may be sown either in August or September with the 
6* 



130 The Fakm. 

winter grains, or in the spring. "Twelve quarts of seed pei 
acre on a fine mellow tilth are sufficient ; and twice this quan- 
tity on a stiff clay." This is the Herds grass of New England. 

2. The Smooth-Stalked Meadow Geass — Poa Pratensis. 

This is one of the hest of grasses, both for hay and for pas- 
ture. It is a native species, and is found almost everywhere, 
but does not grow in its greatest perfection north of the valley 
of the Ohio. It is seen in all its glory on the fertile soils of 
Kentucky and Tennessee. Every animal that eats grass is fond 
of it. " The seed ripens in June, and is self-sown upon the 
ground where the succeeding rains give it vitality and it pushes 
out its long slender leaves two feet in length, which in autumn 
fall over in thick winrows, matting the whole surface with a 
luscious herbage." 

The Eoughish Meadow grass (P. trivialis) has the appear- 
ance of the smooth variety, but is rough to the touch, and pre- 
fers moist situations and clayey soils. This, also, is an excel- 
lent grass. 

3. Red Top — Agrostis Vulgaris. 
A hardy and luxuriant species, much relished by cattle, but 
possessing only a moderate nutritive value. It is much culti- 
vated in some portions of New England and elsewhere ; but 
where better grasses will grow, this should be rejected. It is 
sometimes called Foul Meadow and Bent Grass. 

4. Tall Oat Grass — Avena Elatior. 
An early and luxuriant grass, flourishing in a loamy oi 
clayey soil, and making good hay. It grows to the height of 
four or five feet on good soils. It is well suited to pasture. 

5. The Fescue Grasses — Festuca of species. 

The Tall Fescue grass (F. elatior), according to some experi- 
ments made in England, yields more nutritive matter per acre, 
when cut in flower, than any other grass cut either in flower of 



Faem Crops. 131 

seed. It is an American grass, but has found less favor at 
home than abroad. 

The Meadow Fescue (F. pratensw) ; the Spiked Fescue (F. 
loleacea) ; the Purple Fescue (F. rubra) ; and the Floating 
Fescue (F. fluitans), are all indigenous grasses of fine qual- 
ities and great value. 

6. Orchard Grass — Dactylis Glomerata. 
The Orchard or Cock's Foot grass is excellent for shaded sit- 
uations. It should be cut before it is ripe, and will furnish 
three or four crops a year. Twenty or thirty pounds of the 
seed should be sown per acre. It will grow in almost any 
climate, being found in this country from the extreme north 
to the extreme south. 

7. The Egyptian Grass — Sorghum Halpense. 
A cane-like grass which grows in profusion in some of the 
Southern States. It is a superior stock-sustaining plant ; but 
as it is difficult to remove when once embedded in the soil, its 
introduction into cultivated fields is considered a great evil. 

8. German Millet — Panicum Germanicum. 

This plant, known at the "West as Hungarian grass, seems to 
have been introduced into Iowa by a Hungarian immigrant, 
and to have spread thence to other parts of the country. It 
had, however, been previously cultivated in small quantities 
under its proper name of German Millet. As a forage crop, 
for the "West, at least, its value seems to be well proved. It 
has been less extensively tested at the East. 

An Iowa farmer thus describes the mode of cultivation pur- 
sued in his vie inity : 

" "We prepare the ground the same as for oats, and sow about 
eleven quarts to the acre when we want grass ; but if seed is 
the object, eight quarts to the acre. Good seed will weigh 
fifty pounds to the bushel. I will say in general terms that 
wWever a crop of Indian corn will grow, the Hungarian 



132 The Farm. 

grass will succeed. It loves warm weather, but it requires but 
about six weeks to mature. If cut green, it will put out an 
excellent second growth, making the richest kind of pasturage. 
I have seen, this season, one plant that stood rather isolated 
produce seventy shoots, and each shoot produce a head. It is 
a great thing to stool, or send out suckers ; so if you sow thin 
or thick, you are sure of a crop. It usually grows from three 
to four and a half feet high with us. The best time for sowing 
is about the 20th of May, or when the ground gets warm, on 
clean ground, harrowed both ways. 

" The usual yield of this grass with us is from four to six tons 
to the acre, according to the pains taken in its cultivation ; but 
the premium crop of this county, as returned to our last fall's 
fair, was eight tons and some two hundred pounds to the 
measured acre of good, dry hay, suitable to put in stack, duly 
sworn to by disinterested parties, to the satisfaction of the 
committee, in order to receive the premium." 

9. The Clovers — Trifolium of species. 

According to botanical arrangement, the clovers belong 
among the legumes, and not among the grasses ; but we find it 
more convenient to speak of them in connection with the other 
common forage plants. 

The Common Red clover (T. pratense) is a hardy and easily 
cultivated species, of which there are several varieties. It 
grows luxuriantly on every well-drained soil of sufficient 
strength to afford it nutriment. 

It may be sown broadcast either in August or September, or 
early in the spring, with most of the grains. Sow from ten to 
twelve pounds per acre on well-prepared loams, and from 
twelve to sixteen on clayey lands. It should be very slightly 
covered. A top-dressing of plaster, at the rate of three or four 
bushels to the acre, has a most beneficial and striking effect 
upon this plant. 

Clover should be cut after having fully blossomed and as- 
sumed a brownish hue. 



Faem Cuops. 133 

Southern Clover (T. medium) is a smaller species than 
the common Eed, and matures earlier. It succeeds better 
on a light soil than the latter, and should be sowu more 
thickly. 

The White or Creeping clover (T. repens), of which there are 
several varieties, is a self-propagating plant, and adds greatly 
to the richness of many of our pastures, especially on clayey 
soils. It is very nutritious, and cattle, sheep, and horses are all 
fond of it. 

10. Otheb Gjsasses. 

The Muskeet Grass, found growing on the plains of Mexico 
and Texas, is considered one of the best of the indigenous 
grasses. "We have seen it growing on the plantations of Lou- 
isiana, where it has been successfully transplanted. 

Winter Grass is known on the low, moist fertile soils of Mis- 
sissippi and adjoining States. It springs up in the autumn, 
grows all winter, and seeds in the spring. It fattens all ani- 
mals that feed upon it. 

Grama (La Grama, or the grass of grasses) is held in the 
highest estimation by the Mexicans. It attains a medium 
height, and is deemed the most nutritious of the natural grasses 
in our southwestern frontier prairies, in California, and parts 
of Mexico. It grows on dry, hard, gravelly soils, on side hills, 
and on the swells of the prairies. 

The Prairie Grasses abound in the Western prairies, and are 
of great variety, according to the latitude and circumstances 
under which they are found. They afford large supplies of 
nutritive food, both as pasturage and hay. They possess differ- 
ent merits for stock, but as a general rule they are coarse when 
they have reached maturity, and are easily injured by the early 
frosts of autumn. Some of the leguminose or wild pea vines, 
which are frequently found among them, yield the richest 
herbage. We are not aware that any of these grasses have 
been cultivated with success. 

Dr. Darlington, of Pennsylvania, gives the following as the 



134 The Farm. 

species of grasses most valuable in our meadows and pastures, 
naming them in the order of their excellence : 

1. Meadow or green grass (Poa pratensis). 2. Timothy 
(Phleum pratense). 3. Orchard grass (Dactyl-is glomerata). 
4. Meadow Fescue (Festuca pratensis). 5. Blue grass (Poa 
compressa). 6. Ray grass (Lolium perenne). 7. Red top 
(Agrostis vulgaris). 8. Sweet-scented vernal grass (Anthox- 
anthum odoratum).* 

VI.— MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS OF CULTIVATION. 
1. Cotton — Gossypium of species. 

As cotton is generally cultivated on large plantations, and 
does not strictly come under the head of farm crops, we shall 
content ourself with a few words only upon this grand object 
of culture and commerce. 

Cotton can not be profitably cultivated north of Tennessee. 
It requires a dry, rich loam to produce the largest and most 
profitable crops. 

" During the winter, the land intended for planting should 
be thrown up in beds by turning several furrows together. 
These beds may be four feet from center to center for a mod- 
erate quality of upland soil, and five feet for the lowlands. 
But these distances should be increased with the increasing 
strength of the soil, to seven and eight feet, and in some in- 
stances even to a greater distance for the strongest lands. 
These may lie until the time of planting, from 20th of March to 
20th of April, when no further danger from frost is apprehend- 
ed ; then harrow, and with a light plow mark the center of the 
beds, and sow at the rate of two to five bushels per acre. A 
drilling-machine might be made to answer this purpose better, 
and save much time. An excess of seed is necessary, to pro- 
vide for the enemies of the plant and other contingencies. If 
all the seed germinates, there will be a large surplus of plants, 
which must be removed by thinning. There is an advantage 



Farm Crops. 135 

in mixing the seed, before it is sown, with moistened ashes or 
gypsum, as it facilitates sowing and germination. It should be 
buried about an inch deep, and the earth pressed closely over 
it." 

Harvesting is commenced when the bolls have begun to ex- 
pand and the cotton is protruded, and is continued as the bolls 
successively ripen and burst their capsules. 

2. The Sugak-Cane — Saccharum Officinarum. 
This is another plantation crop, and lies beyond the scope of 
this little book. It is indigenous both in the Old and the New 
World, but is restricted in its cultivation to a belt or zone ex- 
tending from 35° to 40° on each side of the equator. In the 
United States the cultivation can not be profitably carried on 
advantageously higher than about 32°. 

3. Chinese Stjgar-Cane— Sorghum SaccTiaratum. 

Although the value of this plant as an object of general cul- 
tivation is not universally conceded, we think it may be safely 
set down as worthy the farmer's attention, both as a forage 
crop and for making syrup. Its habits and mode of cultivation 
are similar to those of Indian corn. It may be planted at the 
same time as corn, about three feet apart each way, and two 
or three plants in a hill ; or in drills three feet apart, and the 
plants, one in a place, two feet apart in the row. When the 
plants are from six inches to a foot high, turn over the earth 
on each side of the row with a plow and afterward keep the 
weeds down with the hoe. On good soil it will grow from six 
to twelve or fourteen feet high, furnishing a very heavy and 
nutritious crop of fodder; and one hundred and seventy-five 
gallons of syrup, equal to the best molasses, and worth at least 
one dollar per gallon, have been made from an acre of the cane, 
and that with very imperfect apparatus. A correspondent of 
one of the agricultural journals, in closing a narrative of his 
experiments, says: 

" The result, therefore, of my experiments lead me to the con- 



136 The Farm. 

elusion that the accounts heretofore published, as to the value 
of the Chinese Sugar-Cane, are not exaggerated ; that it may bo 
grown upon almost any ordinary soil, requiring no more atten- 
tion than is profitably bestowed upon a crop of Indian corn ; 
that as a soiling crop it is far superior both in quantity and 
quality to Indian corn, producing as a first crop more than can 
be obtained from any other plant in cultivation ; and after once 
cut, again producing a valuable crop ; and that a superior arti- 
cle of syrup can be produced at little cost or trouble." 

An African sorgho, called Imphee, has been experimented 
with both in Europe and America, hi connection with the Chi- 
nese. It has the advantage of maturing earlier, but in refer- 
ence to its value as a sugar-producing plant, in comparison 
with the other, opinions, founded probably on imperfect ex- 
periments, differ widely. M. Velmarin, of Paris, who has 
experimented largely with the various saccharine plants, pro- 
nounces it greatly inferior. It has hardly had a fair trial yet 
in this country. 

4. Broom Cobn — Sorghum Saccharatum. 

Broom corn requires similar soil to Indian corn. A green 
sward turned over late in the fall is best. Well-rotted horse or 
sheep manure and wood ashes may be liberally scattered in the 
drills or hills. A situation not subject to early or late frosts 
should be chosen. Clayey lands are not suitable. 

Plant so soon as danger from frosts will permit, in drills 
three feet apart; or in hills from two to two and a half feet 
apart each way, from twelve to fifteen seeds in a hill, thinning 
out to ten plants at the first hoeing. The after-culture consists 
in frequent stirring of the soil with a light plow or cultivator, ' 
aud keeping the crop clear of weeds with the hoe. 

" Break the tops before fully ripe, or when the seed is a lit- 
tle past the milk ; or if frost appears, then immediately after 
it. This is done by bending down the tops of two rows toward 
each other for the convenience of cutting afterward. They 
should be broken some fourteen inches below the brush, and 



Faem Ceops. 137 

allowed to hang till fully ripe, when they may be cut and car- 
ried under cover, and spread till entirely dry." 

5. Flax — Linum TTsitatissimum. 
A deep, rich loam or alluvial soil is best for flax. The proper 
fertility should be secured by a surplus of manure applied to a 
previous crop, as fresh manures are injurious to it. It is sown 
broadcast, on well-prepared soil, at the rate of from sixteen to 
thirty quarts when wanted for seed, and two bushels when 
cultivated for the fiber. 

6. Hemp — Cannabis Satim. 

This is a plant of the nettle tribe, and came originally from 
India. The Russians are at present its chief cultivators ; but 
in our "Western States, and especially in Kentucky, it is begin- 
ning to be widely raised. 

A rich loam or a vegetable mold suits the hemp plant. The 
ground sbould be carefully prepared by plowing and harrow- 
ing till it is perfectly pulverized, smooth, and even. The seeds 
are sown broadcast at the rate of a bushel and a half to the 
acre, and plowed or harrowed in. Plowing is best on ground 
liable to bake. In Kentucky they sow any time from the first 
of April to the tenth of May. It is desirable to sow just before 
a rain. 

For a full description of the mode of cultivation, harvesting, 
and preparing hemp, as practiced in Kentucky, see the " Amer- 
ican Farmer's Encyclopedia;" article "Hemp." 

7. The Hop — Humulus Lupulus. 

The hop is found growing spontaneously on the banks of 
rivers and brooks in various parts of this country. 

The best soil for the cultivation of hops is a sandy loam, 
rather low and moist ; but they will grow on soils very differ- 
ent from this. New lands are to be preferred. 

The following is the mode of cultivation recommended bj 
Allen in the " American Farm Book :" 



138 The Faem. 

" If the land has been long in use, it should be dressed with 
a compost of alkaline manures ; or, what is nearly equivalent, 
with fresh barn-yard manures, on a previously well-hoed crop, 
and made perfectly free from all weeds, and deeply plowed 
and harrowed. Then mark out the ground at intervals of six 
feet each way and plant in the intersection of the furrows, and 
unless the ground be already rich enough, place three or four 
shovels of compost in each hill. The planting is done with the 
new roots taken from the old hills, which are laid bare by the 
plow. Each root should be six or eight inches long, and must 
contain two or more eyes, one to form the root, and the other 
the vine. Six plants are put in a hill, all of which should be 
within the compass of about a foot, and covered to a depth of 
five inches, leaving the ground level when planted. The first 
season the intermediate spaces between the hills may be planted 
with corn or potatoes, and the ground carefully cleared of 
weeds, and frequently stirred. No poles are necessary the first 
year, as the product will not repay the cost. The ground 
should receive a dressing of compost the following spring, and 
the plants be kept well hoed and clean. 

" Poles may be prepared at the rate of two or three to each 
hill, twenty to twenty-four feet long, and selected from a 
straight, smooth undergrowth of tough and durable wood, 
from four to seven inches diameter at the butt end. These are 
sharpened and firmly set with an iron bar, or socket bar with 
a wooden handle in such a position as will allow the fullest 
effect of the sun upon the hills or roots. When the plants 
have run to the length of three or four feet in the spring, train 
them around the poles, winding in the direction of the sun's 
course, and fasten below the second or third set of leaves, 
where there is sufficient strength of vine to sustain themselves. 
They may be confined with rushes, tough grass, or more easily 
with woolen yarn. This operation is needed again in a few 
days, to secure such as may have got loose by the winds 01 
other causes, and to train up the new shoots. 

"The gathering of hops takes place when they have acquired 



Faem Crops. 139 

a strong scent, at which time the seed becomes firm and 
brown, and the lowest leaves begin to change color. This pre- 
cedes the frosts in September. The vines must first be cut at 
the surface of the ground, and the poles pulled up and laid in 
convenient piles, when they may be stripped of the hops, 
which are thrown into large, light baskets ; or the poles may 
be laid on long, slender boxes with handles at each end (to ad- 
mit of being carried by two persons), and as the hops are 
stripped they fall into the box. Be careful to select them free 
from leaves, stems, and dirt. 

" After gathering in the fall, the hops should be hilled or 
covered with compost, and all the vines removed. The follow- 
ing spring, when the ground is dry, the surface is scraped from 
the hill, and additional compost is added, when a plow is run 
on four sides, as near as possible without injury to the plants. 
All the running roots are laid bare and cut with a sharp knife 
within two or three inches of the main root, and the latter are 
trimmed, if spreading too far. It is well to break or twist 
down the first shoots and allow those which succeed to run, 
as they are likely to be stronger and more productive. Out- 
ting should be avoided, unless in a sunny day, as the profuse 
bleeding injures them. The poles will keep much longer, if 
laid away under cover till again wanted the following spring. 
Drying may be done by spreading the hops thinly in the shade 
and stirring them often enough to prevent heating ; but when 
there is a large quantity, they can be safely cured only in » 
kiln." 



140 



The Farm. 



IX. 

THE ORCHARD. 

There hang the red cheeked apples, bluBhlng In the sun.—/ 

I.— "THE GARDEN." 




N a previous number of this series of man- 
uals ("The Garden") we have devoted a 
long chapter to the subject of fruits, giving 
instructions for planting, grafting, cultiva" 
gathering ; with lists of the best varieties, 
the larger portion of our readers will possess 
that volume also, it will not be profitable to go over 
the same ground again here ; but some additional hints on sev- 
eral points not sufficiently dwelt upon in the work referred to 
will be useful in this. 

II.— LAYING OUT OECHAEDS. 

"We copy from Tucker's " Annual Register of Eural Affairs," 
for 1857, the following useful directions for laying out orchards : 

We have often observed a good deal of inconvenience and 
perplexity in measuring off and laying out orchards, from a 
want of accuracy at the commencement. If the rows are begun 
crooked, stake after stake may be altered, without being able 
to form straight lines, and with only an increase of the confu- 
Bion. If the first tree, in a row of fifty, be placed only six 



The Orchard. 141 

inches out of the way, and he followed as a guide for the rest, 

the last one will deviate fifty times six inches, or twenty -five 

feet from a right line, even if the first error is not repeated. 

We have seen large apple orchards with rows nearly as crooked 

as this. To say nothing of the deformed appearance to the eye, 

they proved exceedingly inconvenient every time the crooked 

space between the rows was plowed, and every time the ground 

was planted and cultivated with crops in rows. 

abcdefghi 
********* 



********* 

********* 

********* 

aicdefghi 

Fig. 1.— Common oe Sqttabe Akbangement. 

The most simple and convenient arrangements for orchards 
in all ordinary cases is in squares, as shown in fig. 1. But 
planters are often puzzled to know how to lay out such orchards, 
with trees at equal distances throughout, and in perfectly 
straight rows. The easiest and most successful mode is first to 
measure off one side along the boundary, with a chain or tape- 
line (a chain is best), and drive in a stake perpendicularly at 
equal distances (say two rods or 33 feet), in a straight line, and 
at a proper distance from the fence for the first row of trees. 
Then measure off each end in the same way ; and between tbe 
last two stakes in these end rows, form another line of stakes 
like the first, which will be parallel and opposite to it. The 
more accurately the measuring is done, the less labor will be 
required in rectifying small errors — no stake should stand half 
an inch out of a straight line. These rows are represented by 
the letters a, 5, e, d, e, J, g, h, i. Then measure off the distance 
between a and a, driving in a small stake or peg at each dis« 



142 The Farm. 

tance of two rods, and then in the same way between » \ t *. 
etc. If accurately done, these will all form perfectly straight 
rows. The holes may then be dug without the least difficulty 
or embarrassment, and the trees set out. But a difficulty 
arises, as the stakes must be removed in digging the holes ; thi.7 
is at once obviated by the plan here proposed, by placing the 
tree in a line with the row of stakes on one side, and with tbe 
newly-set trees on the other, as the holes are successively dug 
and the trees set. 

These directions may seem quite simple, but from want of 
being generally understood, a great many crooked lines of trees 
are seen through the country. 

The second mode of arranging trees is in the old quincunx 
form (fig 2), which is nothing more than a series of squares laic 
off diagonally, and has no special advantage to recommend it 
except novelty. 



******* 
****** 

******* 
****** 

Fig. 2.— Old Quincunx Order. 

The hexagonal or modem quincunx (fig. 3) possesses two im- 
portant advantages. One is its more picturesque appearance, 
********** 
********* 

******** ** 
********* 

********** 
********* 

Fig. 8. — Hexagonal or Modern Quincunx. 
and its consequent fitness for proximity to ornamental planta- 
tions ; and the other is its greater economy of space, as the 



The Oechaed. 143 

trees are more evenly distributed over the ground. This is 
shown in fig. 4, where each tree stands in the center of a circle, 
surrounded at equal distances by six other trees, and each single 
circle leaves but little vacant space beyond it. If cultivated 
with horses, the furrows may be drawn in three different direc- 
tions, instead of only two, as in the square arrangement. 

One principal reason why the hexagonal mode is so little 
adopted, is the supposed difficulty in laying out the ground. 
But like many other apparent difficulties, it becomes very sim- 
ple and easy when once understood. 

To lay off a piece of ground for this purpose, measure off 
one side of the field at equal distances, as already described for 
squares, as at a, 5, c, d, e, fig. 4. These distances must be the 
distance apart at which the trees are to stand, because they 
form the sides of the equilateral triangles into which the whole 

a f a 

: _^ r -- :S? 

\ /"" ! \ - "'' S 

^ : -< ,-"Tn P?C. i 

i 



ok; i>t</4c] 

>>C i A' j v v | y 



^■'\ I ,-r-..j/'K i s 



,M^ -~-\^ y&^ 

Fig. 4. 

ground becomes divided. The next thing is to find the dis- 
tances, a, f, g, for the line of trees at right angles to the first- 



144 The Farm. 

mentioned row. An arithmetician will easily determine this, 
for the triangle, l a f, being a right one, the square of & a 
(which is 33 feet) subtracted from the square of 5 / (which is 
66 feet) will leave the square of a f, the root of which extracted 
will give the distances of/, /, g, etc., which is 57 feet and half 
an inch. Divide this and the opposite side of the field, there- 
fore, into distances of 57 feet and half an inch, and the side 
opposite the first, at 33 feet distances, and proceed to stake off 
all intermediate intersections, as described for squares. If the 
distances are less than 33 feet, as they would be for any other 
kind of fruit-trees, a corresponding proportion is of course to 
be taken, and which is easily determined as above. 

III.-SOIL AND SITUATION. 

Downing says that strong loams, by which is meant loams 
with only just sufficient sand to render them friable and easily 
worked, are, on the whole, by far the best for fruit in this 
country. The trees do not come into bearing so soon as on a 
light, sandy soil, but they bear larger crops, are less liable to 
disease, and are much longer lived. Clayey loams, when well 
drained, are good, and trees growing on them are generally 
free from insects. 

It is difficult to give any precise rules in reference to aspect. 
Good orchards may be found in all aspects ; but a gentle slope 
to the southwest is generally to be preferred to any other. 
Where fruit is very liable to be killed by late spring frosts, and 
the season is long and warm enough to ripen it in any exposure, 
planting on the north sides of hills is practiced with advantage. 
Deep valleys with small streams of water should be avoided, 
as the cold air settles down in such places, and frosts are apt to 
prove fatal; but the borders of large rivers and lakes are 
favorable for orchards, as the climate is rendered milder by the 
presence of large bodies of water. 



The Okchaed. 145 



IT.— PLANTING AND CULTIVATING AN ORCHARD. 

At the risk of repeating in part what has already heen pub- 
lished in "The Garden," we will add a hint or two under this 
head. 

The first thing is to prepare the ground by underdraining (if 
it require it, as most land does), subsoiling, or trench plowing, 
harrowing, manuring, etc. 

Choose sound, healthy trees for planting, and set them out 
carefully, as directed in " The Garden." Apple-trees should be 
thirty feet apart in orchard culture. Set the same kind in rows 
together. This will facilitate the gathering of the fruit, and 
improve the appearance of the orchard. 

"It is an indispensable requisite in all young orchards to 
keep the ground mellow and loose by cultivation ; at least for 
the first few years, until the trees are well established. In- 
deed, of two adjoining orchards, one planted and kept in grass, 
and the other plowed for the first five years, there will be an 
incredible difference in favor of the latter. Not only will these 
trees show a rich, dark, luxuriant foliage, and clean, smooth 
stems, while those neglected will have a sickly look, but the 
size of the trees in the cultivated orchard will be treble that of 
the others at the end of this time, and a tree in one will be 
ready to bear an abundant crop before the other has commenced 
yielding a peck of good fruit. Fallow crops are best for or- 
chards^ — potatoes, beets, carrots, bush beans, and the like ; but 
whatever crops may be grown, it should be constantly borne in 
mind that the roots of the tree require the sole occupancy of 
the ground, so far as they extend, and therefore that an area 
of more than the diametv of the head of the tree should be 
kept clean of crops, weeds, and grass."* 

To keep your trees in a healthy, bearing state, regular ma- 
nuring is requisite. They exhaust the soil, like any other crop. 



* Downing. 

7 



146 The Farm. 

Top-dressings of marl, or mild lime, may alternate with barn- 
yard manure, muck composts, etc. 

To prevent the attacks of the apple-borer, place about the 
trunks early in the spring a small mound of ashes or lime. 
Nursery trees may be protected by washing the stems in May, 
quite down to the ground, with a solution of two pounds of 
potash in eight quarts of water. 

V.-THE PROFITS OF APPLE CULTURE. 

" There is no question of the propriety and necessity of the 
farmer planting apples enough to supply abundantly his own 
table with the best of this fruit through the whole year ; but 
further than this, we require to know whether a large extent 
of land may be usefully applied to raising apples for sale ; and 
about what returns may be expected from such orchards, with 
good management; and what 'good management' is. 

" There are some varieties, whicb, although possessing supe- 
rior qualities for home use, and therefore necessary in the family 
orchard, are not salable, and, of course, worthless for market- 
ing. A fruit for sale must at least be fair and good looking ; it 
ought, also, to be of fine quality, to bring the best price ; it 
must also be a sure and good bearer, and one that keeps long 
enough to insure carriage to market, and a reasonable period 
for selling. We find among all the sorts which are known to 
our nurserymen and orchardists, that there are few that havr 
all these qualifications to such an extent that they can safely bf 
recommended. A close inquiry will show that, in all mixed 
orchards, the profit has been derived from a very few sorts. 
Other kinds are found to yield some superior specimens, and to 
be well worth raising for one's own satisfaction, but, so far as 
money is concerned, the soil would be more profitably employed 
if planted with other crops. 

" Soil and situation fit for an apple orchard must always be 
valuable for other purposes ; and as none but the best of lands 
can be depended upon, the value of such lands is consequently 
high. We are safe in assuming that land fit for Buch use, in 



The Orchard. 147 

Western New York, is worth, on an average, one hundred dol- 
lars per acre, the annual rent of whioh should be at least ten 
dollars per acre. 

"This is more than would generally be realized net profit 
from the crops for some years after the planting of an orchard 
upon it ; and at the end of ten years (at which time we might 
presume the trees to be in a bearing state), there would be a 
balance due from the orchard to the planter. After this time, 
the crops from the orchard should not be reckoned worth much, 
as tbe trees will occupy the whole soil with their roots, and the 
sun and air with their branches. 

" Ten years from planting, Baldwin and Ehode Island Green- 
ing apple-trees can be relied upon to bear about three barrels 
per tree, each bearing year, which occurs each alternate year 
with the Baldwin, and generally so with the Greening. This 
gives us sixty barrels of fine winter apples per year, from trees 
planted two rods apart, or forty trees per acre. The whole 
annual expense of cultivation, and the gathering and barreling, 
will scarcely amount to twenty-five dollars, leaving the net 
proceeds, if sold at one dollar per barrel, about thirty-five dol- 
lars per acre. This sum per acre will soon repay any balance 
due the planter, and the rapidly increasing produce of the trees, 
for many years, will satisfy any reasonable man of the expedi- 
ency of planting large orchards, where the conditions of success 
are observed ; but it will readily be seen that an orchard of any 
but the best varieties will not pay interest and care. 

"It is important that the fruit-grower should base his ex- 
pectations entirely upon the results to be derived from a series 
of years, and not from any less period of time ; otherwise he 
will be found wide from the truth."* 



149 



APPENDIX. 



MEASURING LAND. 
Farmers often desire to lay off small portions of land for the purpose of ex- 
perimenting with manures, crops, etc. ; but sometimes find difficulty in doing 
It correctly, for the lack of a few simple rules. The following table and ac- 
companying explanation, which we copy from the New England Farmer 
carefully studied, will make the whole matter perfectly clear. 

ONE A0BE CONTAINS 

160 square rods; 4,840 square yards ; 43,560 square feet 

ONE EOD CONTAINS 

80.25 square yards ; 272.25 square feet 
One square yard contains nine square feet 

THE SIDE OF A SQUARE TO CONTAIN 

One acre 208.T1 feet 12.65 rods 64 paces. 

One-half acre 147.58 " 8.94 " 45 " 

One-third acre 120.50 " 7.30 " 37 " 

One-fourth acre 104.36 " 6.32 " 82 " 

One-eighth acre 73.79 " 4.47 " 22i " 

208.71 feet 




150 



Appendix. 



It will be seen by reference to the plan that a practice sometimes followed 
by farmers is very erroneous ; if the side of a square containing one acre mea- 
sures 208.71 feet, one half that length will not make a square containing one 
half an acre, but only one fourth an acre, and one third the length of line will 
inclose a square of one ninth an acre, and one fourth the line, squared, will 
contain one sixteenth an acre, and so on. 



HOW TO ESTIMATE CROPS PER ACRE. 

A friend communicates the following method of making an estimate of the 
yield per acre of a growing crop, of wheat, rye, oats, or barley, which he says 
has been found correct in England. As it seems easy of application, and ap- 
proximately correct, we give the plan, and hope it will be tried at the next 
harvest-time. 

Frame together four light sticks, measuring exactly a foot square inside, and, 
with this in hand, walk into the field and select a spot of fair average yield, 
and lower the frame square over as many heads as it will inclose, and shell out 
the heads thus inclosed carefully, and weigh the grain. It is fair to presume 
that the product will be the 4S,560th part of an acre's produce. To prove it, 
go through the field, and make ten or twenty similar calculations, and estimate 
by the mean of the whole number of results. It will certainly enable a farmer 
to make a closer calculation of what a field will produce, than he can do by 
guessing. — New York Tribune. 



c. 

NUMBER OF PLANTS PER ACRE. 



OP PLANTS OK TREES THAT CAN BE PLANTED ON AN ACRE OP GROUND, 



AT THE FOLLOWING DISTANCES APART, IN PEET. 



Distances apart. 

1 by 1 


No. of Plan 
43,560 


U " H 




2 "1 


21. 7si) 


2 "2 




2^ " 2i 


6,969 


8 "1 


14,520 


<l "2 




a "8 


4,8 ;0 


Sh " 3J 


3,555 


4 "1 


10,S90 


4 "2 


5,445 


4 "3 




4 "4 

4\ « 4j 


2,722 

2,151 




8.712 






5 "3 




5 "4 




5 "5 


1,742 


5^ " 5\ 


1,417 


6 "6 


1,210 


•i " 61 


1.031 



9 " 9.. 

10 " 10.. 

11 " 11.. 

12 " 12.. 

13 " 13. 

14 " 14.. 

15 " 15.. 

16 « 16.. 

17 " 17.. 

18 " 18.. 

19 " 19.. 

20 " 20.. 

24 " 24.. 

25 " 25.. 
27 " 27.. 



40. 



No. of Plants- 



.3(12 
.257 
.'.'22 



Appendix. 



151 



Multiply the distances into each other, and divide it by the square feet in i 
acre, or 43,560, and the quotient is the number of plants. 



D. 

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 

WEIGHT OP GRAIN, ETC. 



Wheat, lb 

Eye 

Corn 

Oats 

Barley 

Buckwheat . . . 
Clover-seed . . . 
Timothy-seed . 
Flax-seed 



Blue-grass seed, 
Apples, dried . . 
Peaehes, dried. 

Coarse salt 

Pine salt 

Potatoes 



Beans 

Castor beans . 

Onions 

Corn meal. .'. 
Mineral coal. 



A law of New York, in force at the present time, adopts the United States 
bushel of measure, viz. : 2150.42 cubic inches per bushel, 1075.21 half bushel; 
and the wine gallon, 231 cubic inches. 

To reduce cubic feet to bushels, struck measure, divide the cubic feet by 56, 
and multiply by 45. 

BOX MEASUEE8. 

Farmers and market gardeners will find a series of box measures very use- 
ful ; and they can readily be made by any one who understands the two-foot 
rule, and can handle the saw and the hammer. The following measurements, 
It will be seen, vary slightly from the United States bushel adopted by some of 
the States, but are sufficiently accurate for all ordinary purposes : 

A box 16 by 16J inches square, and 8 inches deep, will contain a bushel, 
2150.4 cubic inches, each inch in depth holding one gallon. 

A box 24 by 11.2 inches square, and 8 inches deep, will also contain a bushel 
or 215" .4 cubic inches, each in depth holding one gallon. A box 12 by 11.2 
inches square, an i 8 inches deep, will contain half a bushel, or 1075.2 cubio 
inches, each inct in depth holding half a gallon. 



152 Appendix. 

A box 8 by 6.4 inches square, and S inches deep, will contain half a peck, oi 
298.8 cubic inches. TLe gallon, dry measure. 

A box 4 by 4 inches square, and 4.2 inches deep, will contain one quart, or 
67.2 cubic inches. 

WEIGHT PEE CUBIC FOOT. 

Weights of a Cubic Foot of various Substances, from winch the Bulk of a Load 
of one Ton may be easily calculated. 



Cast iron 4501 

Water 62 

"White pine, seasoned, about . . 80 
White oak, " " .. 52 
Loose earth, about 95 



Common soil, compact, about. 124 

Clay, about 185 

Clay with stones, about 160 

Brick, about 125 



Bulk of a Ton of different Substances. 
23 cubic feet of sand, 18 cubic feet of earth, or 17 cubic feet of clay, make a 
ton. 18 cubic feet of gravel or earth, before digging, make 27 cubic feet when 
dug ; or the bulk is increased as three to two. Therefore, in filling a drain two 
feet deep above the tile or stones, the earth should be heaped up a foot above 
the surface, to settle even with it, when the earth is shoveled loosely in. 



UNPROFITABLE FARMING. 

Manure is a necessary application, in order to bring an impoverished soil 
Into a productive state. Nothing is more certain, all agree. And yet how 
much of the unprofitable farming of the country results from the attempt to 
grow crops on worn-out soils without manure ! Plant corn on such land — the 
crop is a meager one, both from want of strength in the soil to grow it, and 
length of the season to mature it. A rich or well-manured soil will ripen this 
crop weeks earlier than a poor one. An acre of land, rich, deeply tilled, 
planted in good season, and thoroughly and cleanly cultivated, will produce 
more corn than five acres poor, shallow-plowed, late-planted, and half-culti- 
vated, and at perhaps one half the expense of the latter. 

Stagnant water, either in or upon the soil, is another cause of unprofitable 
farming. A soil which has no escape or outlet for the water which falls upon 
it save evaporation, can not be made to produce a paying crop. In a dry sea- 
son it is baked and hard— in a wet one it is often flooded with stagnant water, 
and is never in a condition very favorable to the growth of cultivated crops, 
however well suited it may be to the production of wild grass, flag, and rushes. 
And partially drained land of this character is little better. Flooded in spring, 
the water passes off but slowly ; nothing can be done upon it until the " sub- 
siding of the waters," which, as they must in great part go cloudward, is a 
tedious process. 

Poor manure— made so by exposure and leaching while yet in the yard— is 
another snurce of loss to the farmer. The contents of the barn-yard are gen- 
erally dignified with the name of manure ; even if they consist of little more 
than a leached mass of straw and excrement, the real strength of which has 
long ago passed off into some stream, or (! >ated down the roadside ditch, and 



Appendix. 153 

Into some provident neighbor's field, it is still "manure," and is carted to the 
field and offered to the crop, with the expectation that it will find therein nu- 
triment, and the material for large productiveness. One thought will show 
how futile this expectation. How does manure benefit a plant ? By its soluble 
constituents— they receive only liquid food. This leached manure has lost the 
greater share of the soluble elements of fertility, and acts in great part only 
mechanically upon the soil. 

Attempting too much is another great cause of loss to the farmer. " Much 
labor on little land" is the secret of success — enough labor, at least, to do every 
thing in the best manner. Look at it— is it good policy to expend the labor of 
putting in a crop over six acres, when, at the same cost, a like result may be 
realized from three or four ? Will you be content with thirty bushels of corn 
per acre, at an expense of, say $12, when, by adding $3 in manure and better 
culture, you may realize sixty or one hundred bushels ? Will you grow infe- 
rior stock with the same amount of food, when by a larger outlay at first you 
may have the best— those always salable at good prices— while the unimproved 
scarcely find purchasers at any price ? Is it not best, either to concentrate 
your labor on less land, or increase your expenditure so as to embrace the 
whole farm in a thorough system of cultivation ? 

The acknowledged causes of unprofitable farming are not exhausted, and it 
Is a proper subject for the examination of the farmer. Let him look into the 
matter, and see where and why he has failed. — Country Gentleman. 

F. 

FACTS ABOUT WEEDS. 
Dr. Lindley estimates as a low average the following number of seeds from 
each of these four plants : 

1 plant of Groundsel produces.. 

I « s^Se - :::::: 

1 " Spurge " 

or enough seed from these four plants to cover three acres and a half; at three 
feet apart. To hoe this land, he says, will cost 6s. (sterling) per acre, and 
hence a man throws away 5s. 3d. a time, as often as he neglects to bend his 
back to pull up a young weed before it begins to fulfill the first law of nature. 
He recommends every farmer, whose vertebral column will not bend, to count 
the number of dandelions, sow thistles, etc., on the first square rod he can 
measure off. 

This operation may be repeated in this country by applying all the above 
estimates to pig-weed, burdock, fox-tail, chick-weed, and purslane. 

G. 

SUCCESSFUL EABMING. 

James Gowen, of Mount Airy, near Philadelphia, raised, in 1845, a ten-acre 

field of corn, which averaged 95 bushels of shelled corn per acre. It had been 

In grass without manure, five years; it was plowed, and the field manured 

7 



.... 2,0801 

::::«h 

540J 



154 Appendix. 

with a ton of guano, costing 140. The rows were 3J feet apart, and the plants 
12 inches. (This distance would be too great for small Northern corn.) Judi- 
cious harrowing, in preparation, cleared the ground thoroughly of grass and 
weeds, and it was kept perfectly clean afterward at little cost There were 7 
acres of winter wheat, and one of spring wheat, the whole computed to aver- 
age over 40 bushels per acre. The spring wheat was after an acre of carrots, 
of 900 bushels, and was followed by an acre of turnips of 1,000 bushels ; the 
whole worth over $500— from one acre in two years. The carrot crop the same 
year was 1,000 bushels per acre ; sugar-parsnep, 800 bushels; ruta-baga, over 
600 bushels ; potatoes, 3 acres, over 200 bushels each. These were only part 
of the crops. Besides, there were more than 100 tons of excellent hay, though 
the season was unfavorable. All on an upland farm of about 100 acres, which 
maintained during the summer over 60 head of cattle. So much for manure, 
Bubsoiling, fine culture, draining, rotation, etc.— Annual Register. 



STIRRING THE SOIL. 

Every observant farmer must have noticed the crust which forms on the sur- 
face of newly-stirred soils, after lying a few days to the action of the dews. A 
much heavier crust is formed by each shower of rain which falls. Good and 
successful cultivation requires that this newly-formed crust be often and repeat- 
edly broken by the hoe, harrow, or other instrument 

A striking instance in proof of the importance of this practice has just been 
stated by an extensive farmer. He planted a field of broom corn, and, by way 
of banter, told the man who assisted him that each should choose a row as 
nearly alike as possible, and each should hoe his row, and the measured 
amount of crop on each should be the proof which was hoed best Our inform- 
ant stated the result in substance as follows : " Determined not to be beaten, 
I hoed my row, well, once a week the summer through. I had not seen my 
assistant hoe his at all, but had observed that for s long time he was up in the 
morning before me. At length I found him before sunrise, hoeing his broom- 
com, and I asked him how often he hoed it ; he answered, ' Once a day, regu- 
larly.' The result of the experiment was, his row beat mine by nearly double 
tie amount"— Ibid. 



155 



INDEX. 



History of 9 

Improvement of 11 

Ashes 41 

Apple Culture, Profits of 146 



Bones, how to prepare them 37 

Barley 110 

Buckwheat 113 

Beans 115 

Beet 128 

Broom Corn 136 



Crops 



"What they take from the Soil 27 

Rotation of 48, 97 

Farm 100 



" How to Estimate. 

Composts 

Capital 

Corn, Indian 

Carrot 

Cotton 

Chinese Sugar-Cane 



D. 
Drains, Construction of. . 



Ten Reasons for 

Conditions requiring . . . 
Practical Directions for. 
"Will it Pay? 



Fences 

" Iron. 

" Hurdle 

" Are they Necessary ?. . 

Facts about "Weeds 

Farm Management, Essay on. 

Farm Crops 

F arming, Unprofitable 



Flax 



61,91 



PAfiH 

Guano 85 

Gypsum 39 

Gates 91 

Grains, Edible 100 

Grain, How to Shock 114 

Grasses 129 

H. 

Hedges 66 

Harrow 76 

Hoe, Horse 78 

Hemp 187 

Hop 13T 

How to Estimate Crops 150 

I. 

Irrigation 46 

Implements 73 

" List and prices of 85 

" Choiceof 92 

Indian Corn 100 

K. 
KohlRabi 126 

L. 

Lime 88 

Livestock 85 

" Maintenance of 87 

Land, How to Measure 149 

M. 

Manures, Necessity of 25 

" Classification and- De- 
scription of. 28 

" Management of 42, 94 

Marl 38 

Mowers 81 

Millet 114,131 

Measuring Land 149 

M easures, Weights and 151 

Maintenance of Livestock 8T 



156 



Index. 



NightSoil 35 

Number of Plants to the Acre 150 

O. 

Oat 108 

Orchards, Laying out 140 

" Soil and Situation for.. 144 



P. 

Plants, Food of 26 

" Number to the Acre 150 

Plow 73 

Pea. 11T 

Pea-nut 118 

Potato 118 

" Sweet 122 

Parenep 128 

E. 

Rotation, Theory of 48 

" Benefltsof. 49,97 

Boiler, Field 79 

Bake, Horse 80 

Beapers 81 

Bye 107 

Sloe Ill 



PAOI 

Soils, Classification of 18 

" Analysis of 16 

" Physical Properties of. 18 

" Improvement of 21, 93 

" Importance of stirring the. 154 

Subsoils 28 

Salt.. 40 

Seeds 86 

Seed-Sowers 80 

Sweet Potato 122 

Sugar-Oane 185 

" Chinese 135 

Successful Farming 158 

Stirring the Soil 154 

T. 
Turnip 125 

TJ. 

TJrine 88 

Unprofitable Farming 162 

W. 

Wheat ... 104 

Weights and Measure* 114 

Weed*, Fact* about 158 



OK, HOW TO BREED AND BEAR 



THE BARN- YARD: 

A MANUAL 

OF 

Cattlt, pom anh §b\ 

OK, HOW TO BREED i 

THE VAKIOUS SPECIES OF DOMESTIC MIMALS: 

EMBRACING 

DIRECTIONS FOB THE BREEDING, REARING, AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF 
HORSES, MULES, CATTLE, SHEEP, 8WINE AND POULTBYJ THE GENERA! 
LAWS, PARENTAGE, AND HEBIDITABT DESCENT, APPLIED TO ANI- 
MALS, AND HOW BREEDS MAT BE IMPROVED ; HOW TO INSURE 
THE HEALTH OF ANIMALS ; AND HOW TO TREAT THEM 
FOR DISEASES WITHOUT THE USE OF DRUGS; 

WITH A 

By D. H. JACQUES, 

Author of "The Home," "The Garden," "The Fabm," "How to Writh,*' 
"How to Do Business," rto. 

Our power erer the lower animals, If rightly exercised, redounds to their elevation and happiness 
no less than to our convenience and profit — Thb Authob. 

REVISED EDITION 1 . 



NEW YORK: 
THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 

39 AND 41 CHAMBERS STREET. 



Altered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 18TO, by 

GEO. E. WOODWARD, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United State! for I 
Southern District of New York. 



PREFACE. 



We commenced this little manual with the intention of making 
the most useful compilation possible, within the space allowed us, 
from the great number of larger works on the subjects treated to 
which we had access. In the progress of our work, however, we 
found occasion to depart, in some degree, from our original plan, 
and introduce more new matter and re-write and condense more 
that is, in substance, derived from others, than we at first in- 
tended ; hut our claims on the score of originality will not be 
large. If the matter and arrangement of our book shall prove 
acceptable to the public, and serve the purposes intended, we 
shall be satisfied. The humble merit of having presented, in an 
attractive and available form amass of useful information, prac- 
tical hints, and valuable suggestions, on a number of important 
topics, is all that we purpose to insist upon. This the great pub- 
lic, for whose good we have labored, will, we are sure, readily 
accord to us. 

"We have given credit in the body of the work, whenever prac- 
ticable, to the authors from whom we have derived aid in the 
various departments of our labor ; but we here gladly make an 
additional record of our indebtedness to the works of Youatt, 
Martin, Stuart, Kandall, Wingfield, Dixon, Bement, Browne, 
Quimby, etc. The Country Getitleman, the American Agriculturist, 
the Southern Cultivator, and other agricultural papers, have been 
examined with satisfaction to ourselves and with profit to our 
readers. 



vi Preface. 

We have endeavored to make our little work thorough and re- 
liable, so far as it goes, and to give the largest possible amount 
of useful information that can be condensed into so small a num- 
ber of pages. We have occupied a large field, we are aware, and 
can not hope to have been so full on all points as many readers 
will desire. We have not aimed, of course, to render the larger 
works on the special topics to which our chapters are devoted un- 
necessary. We hope rather to create a demand for them ; but 
there are thousands whom this little manual will furnish with all 
the information they desire on the subjects on which it treats, 
and on whom the details with which the larger and more expen- 
sive works are rilled would be thrown away. To such, in an es- 
pecial manner, we commend it, hoping that it will not wholly fail 
to meet their expectations. 



CONTENTS. 



I.— THE HORSE. 



A Historical Sketch— Eange of the Horse in Reference to Climate— Effects of 
Climate and Food — Varieties or Breeds— The Eace-Horse— Origin and 
Characteristics — Half-bred Horses— The Arabian Horse — Wonderful Gene- 
alogies — Description — The Arabian " Tartar" — The Morgan— Opinions in 
Reference to the Morgans— Sherman Morgan— The Canadian Horse— The 
Norman— " Louis Philippe"— The Cleveland Bay— The Conestoga— The 
Clydesdale Horse— The Virginian— Wild Horses— American Trotting Horses 
— Points of a Horse Illustrated — Color, and what it Indicates — Common 
Terms Denoting the Parts of a Horse— Stables— Stables as they are— Situation 
of Stables — Size — Windows — Floors — Draining— Racks and Mangers — Ven- 
tilation of Stables — Warmth, etc.— The best Food for Horses — Work and Di- 
gestion — Bulk of Food — Quantity — Water— General Management of the 
Horse — Air — Litter— Grooming — Exercise — Vices and Habits — Restiveness 
— Backing and Balking— Biting — Kicking— Running Away — Rearing — Over- 
reaching—Rolling—Shying—Slipping the Halter— Tripping— Hints to Buy- 
ers—Warranty—Form of a Receipt Embodying a Warranty— What a War- 
ranty Includes — What constitutes Unsoundness Page 9 

II.— THE ASS AND THE MULE. 
Why the Ass has been Neglected and Abused— Eastern Appreciation— The 
Ass compared with the Horse— The Ass in Guinea and Persia— The Mule- 
Adaptation as a Beast of Burden— Trade in Kentucky— Use on a Farm- 
How to have large and handsome Mules 45 

HI.— CATTLE. 

Historical Sketch— Breeds— The Devons— New England Cattle— The Hereford 
Breed— The Sussex Breed— The Ayrshire Cattle— The Welsh Breeds— Irish 
Cattle— The Long Horns— The Durham or Short-Horned Breed— Aid erney 
or Jersey Cattle— The Galloway Breed or Hornless Cattle— Other Polled 
Cattle— The Cream-Pot Breed— Points of Cattle— General Management of 
Cattle— The Cow-House Feeding— Rearing Calves— Milking— How to Esti- 
mate the Weight of Livestock 49 

IV.— SHEEP. 

Characteristics of the Sheep— Mutton— Breeds in the United States— The Na- 
tive Breed— The Spanish Merino — American Merinos — Saxon Merinos — The 
New Leicester Breed— The South-Downs— Mr. Taylor's Facts and Figures 
—The Cotswold Breed— New Oxfordshire Sheep— The Cheviot Breed— Tha 



viii Contests. 

Lincoln Breed -On the Choice of a Breed— The Improved English Varieties 
as"Mutton Sheep— The Merinos as Wool-Producers— General Management 
— Barns and Sheds— Feeding Backs — Feeding — Salt— Water— Shade — 
Lambs— Castration— Docking— Washing— Shearing— Value of Sheep to the 
Farmer — An Anecdote 78 

V —SWINE. 
Natural History of Swine— The Wild Boar— Opinions Respecting the Hog— 
The Hog among the Greeks and Bomans— Swine Breeding in Gaul ana 
Spain— Abhorrence toward Swine's Flesh among the Jews, Egyptians, Mo- 
hammedans, and Others -Cuvier's Opinion— Unwholesomeness of Swine's 
Flesh in Warm Climates— Breeds of Swine— The " Land Pike"— The Chi- 
nese Hog— The Berkshire Breed— The Suffolk Breed— The Essex Breed— 
The Chester Hog— Points of the Hog -Feeding— The Piggery 95 

VI.— IMPROVEMENT OF BREEDS 

8e! ection of the Sire and Dam— How the Cream Pot Breed was Produced— 
In-and-in Breeding — Youatt's Opinion — Crossing— Origin of La Chamois 
Sheep— The best Breeds most Profitable— How to Improve One's Stock- 
How Improvements may be bred Out as well as In 108 

VII— DISEASES AND THEIR CURE. 
About throwing Physic to the Dogs— Wild Animals seldom Sick— The Eeason 
why — Causes of Disease among Domestic Animals— How they may be kept 
in Perfect Health— Treatment of their Diseases— The Water-Cure for Ani- 
mals 114 

Vm.— POULTRY. 

The Domestic Fowl— Wild Origin Unknown— General Characteristics of the 
Domestic Fowl— The Spanish Fowl— The Dorking— The Polish Fowl -The 
Hamburg Fowl— The Dominique Fowl — The Leghorn Fowl — The Shang- 
hais and Cochin Chinas— The Bantam — The Game Fowl — Mongrels — Choice 
of Breed— Accommodations -Incubation— Rearing Chickens— Five Rules— 
The Guinea Fowl— The Domestic Turkey— The Principal Requisites in 
Turkey Rearing— General Directions— The Domestic Goose -How to Rear 
Geese— Shearing instead of Plucking— The Domestic Duck— Best Varieties 
—How to Rear Ducks -Fattening— Preparing Poultry for Market 118 

IX.-BEE-KEEPING. 
Wonders of the Bee-Hive— The three kinds of Bees— The Queen and her Du- 
ties — Curious Facts— How the Cells are Made — Bee-Bread — Ventilation by 
the Bees on Scientific Principles— The Apiary— Bee-Hives— How to Make 
them — Sectional Hives— Mr. Luda's Hive- Swarming — Robbing the Hive — 
Wintering— Feeding— Killing the Drones 148 

APPENDIX. 
Horse Taming lffl 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



THE HOUSE. 



A horse ! a horse ! My kingdom for a horse 




I.-HISTORY. 

HE horse is probably a native of the warm conn 
tries of the East, where he is found wild in a 
considerable state of perfection. Its nse, both 
as a beast of burden and for the purposes of war, 
early attracted the attention of mankind. Thus 
when Joseph proceeded with his father's body from Egypt into 
Canaan, "there accompanied him both chariots and horsemen" 
(Gen. xix.) ; and the Oanaanites ai*e said to have gone out to fight 
against Israel " with many horses and chariots" (Joshua ii. 4). 
This was more than sixteen hundred years before Christ. 

The horse was early employed on the course. In the year 
1450 b. o. the Olympic games were established in Greece, at 
which horses were used in chariot and other races. 

No horses were found either on the continent or on the 
islands of the New World ; but the immense droves now ex- 
isting in parts of both North and South America, all of which 
have descended from the two or three mares and stallions left 
by the early Spanish voyagers, prove very clearly that the 
climate and soil of fhese countries is well adapted to their 
propagation. 

Professor Low says : " The horse is seen to be affected in his 
1* 



10 Domestic Animals. 

character and form by the agencies of food and climate, and it 
may be by other causes unknown to us. He sustains the tem- 
perature of the most burning regions ; but there is a degree of 
cold at which he can not exist, and as he approaches this limit 
his temperament and external conformation are affected. In 
Iceland, at the Arctic Circle, he has become a dwarf; in Lapland, 
at latitude 65°, he has given place to the reindeer ; and in Kamt- 
sehatka, at 62°, he has given place to the dog. The nature 
and abundance of his food, too, greatly affect his character and 
form. A country of heaths and innutritious herbs will not 
produce a horse so large and strong as one of plentiful herbage ; 
the horse of the mountains will be smaller than that of the 
plains ; the horse of the sandy desert than that of the watered 
valley."* 

II.— BREEDS. 

The genus Equus, according to modern naturalists, consists 
of six different animals — the horse (J£. caballus) ; the ass (2?. 
asinus) ; the quagga {E. quagga) ; the dziggithai (E hemionus) ; 
the mountain zebra (F. zebra) ; and the zebra of the plains 
(E. burchelli). 

Of the horse there are many varieties or breeds. Ineffect- 
ual attempts have been made to decide which variety now 
existing constitutes the original breed ; some contending for the 
Barb and others for the wild horses of Tartary. It is of the 
latter that Byron thus speaks in "Mazeppa:" 

With flowing tail and flying mane, 
With nostrils never streaked with pain, 
Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein, 
And feet that iron never shod, 
And flanks unscarred by spur or rod, 
A thousand horse— the wild, the free — 
Likes waves that follow o'er the sea, 
Came thundering on. 

The principal breeds of horses now bred in the United State* 
are the Bace-Horse, the Arabian, the Morgan, the Canadian, 

* Illustrations of the Breeds of Animals. 



The Horse. 11 

the Norman, the Cleveland Bay, the Conestoga, the Virginia 
Horse, the Clydesdale, and the Wild or Prairie Horse. 

1. The Race-Horse. — "There is much dispute," Mr. Youatt 
says, " with regard to the origin of the Thorough-bred Horse. 
By some he is traced through both sire and dam to Eastern pa- 
rentage ; others believe him to be the native horse, improved 
and perfected by judicious crossings with the Barb, the Turk, 
or the Arabian. The Steed Book, which is an authority with 
every English breeder, traces all the old racers to some Eastern 
origin; or it traces them until the pedigree is lost in the 
uncertainty of an early period of breeding. 

"Whatever may be the truth as to the origin of the race- 
horse, the strictest attention has for the last fifty years been 
paid to pedigree. In the descent of almost every modern racer 
not the slightest flaw can be discovered." 

Tbe racer is generally distinguished, according to the same 
authority, by his beautiful Arabian head ; his fine and finely- 
set neck; his oblique, lengthened shoulders; his well-bent 
hinder legs; his ample muscular quarters ; his flat legs, rather 
short from the knee downward, although not always so deep 
as they should be ; and his long and elastic pastern. 

The use of thorough-bred and half-bred horses for domes 
tic purposes is becoming common in England. The half-bred 
horse is not only much handsomer than the common horse, but 
his speed and power of endurance are infinitely greater. 

" The acknowledged superiority of Northern carriage and 
draught stock," the editor of the New York Spirit of the Times 
says, " is owing almost entirely to the fact that thorough-bred 
horses have found their way North and East from Long Island 
and New Jersey, where great numbers are annually disposed of 
that are unsuited to the course." 

For the farm, the pure thorough-bred horse would be nearly 
useless. He lacks weight and substance to give value and power 
for draught. For road work the same objections will apply, 
although not to the same extent, perhaps. The best English 
road horse is a cross of the thorough-bred and the Cleveland. 



12 Domestic Animals. 

2. The Arabian Horse. — The genealogy of the Arabian 
horse, according to' Arab account, is known for two thousand 
years. Many of them have written and attested pedigrees ex- 
tending more than four hundred years, and, with true Eastern 
exaggeration, traced by oral tradition from the stud of Solo- 
mon. A more careful account is kept of these genealogies than 
of those of the most ancient family of the proudest Arab chief, 
and very singular precautions are taken to prevent the possi- 
bility of fraud, so far as the written pedigree extends. 

The head of the Arabian horse is inimitable. The broadness 
and squareness of the forehead, the shortness and fineness of the 
muzzle, the prominence and brilliancy of the eye, the smallness 
of the ears, and the beautiful course of the veins, are its char- 
acteristics. In the formation of the shoulders next to the head, 
the Arabian is superior to any other breed. The withers are 
high and the shoulder-blades inclined backward, and so nicely 
adjusted that in descending a hill the point or edge of the ham 
never ruffles the skin. The fineness of the legs and the oblique 
position of the pasterns may seem to lessen his strength ; but 
the leg, although small, is flat and wiry, and its bones uncom- 
monly dense.* 

Eichardson says : " Often may the traveler in the desert, on 
entering within the folds of a tent, behold the interesting spec- 
tacle of a magnificent courser extended upon the ground, and 
some half dozen little dark-skinned, naked urchins scrambling 
across her body, or reclining in sleep, some upon her neck, 
some on her body, and others pillowed upon her heels ; nor do 
the children ever experience injury from their gentle playmate. 
She recognizes the family of her friend, her patron, and toward 
them all the natural sweetness of her disposition leans, even to 
overflowing." 

The Arabian horse Tartar, whose portrait we give on the next 
page, is thus described in the New England Farmer: "This 
beautiful horse was bred by Asa Pingree, of Topsfield, Mass. 



14: Domestic Animals. 

He now stands fifteen and one fourth hands high; weighs 
nine hundred pounds ; is of dark-gray color, with dark mane 
and tail. He was sired by the imported, full-blood Arabian 
horse 'Imaum,' and is seven years old this spring. This 
engraving, copied from life, gives the figure of ' Tartar,' but can 
not represent the agile action, flashing eye, and cat- like nimble- 
ness of all his movements. It shows the beautiful Arabian 
head and finely-set-on neck; his ample muscular quarters; 
his flat legs, rather short from the knee downward ; and his 
long and elastic pastern. All his motions are light and exceed- 
ingly graceful, and his temper so docile that a child may 
handle him." 

3. The Morgan Horse. — This celebrated American breed is 
probably a cross between the English race-horse and the com- 
mon New England mare. It is perhaps, all things considered, 
the very finest breed for general usefulness now existing in the 
United States. Mr. S. "W. Jewett, a celebrated stock breeder, 
in an article in the Cultivator, says : 

" I believe the Morgan blood to be the best ever infused into 
the Northern horse. The Morgans are well known and esteem- 
ed for activity, hardiness, gentleness, and docility ; well adapted 
for all work ; good in every spot except for races on the turf. 
They are lively and spirited, lofty and elegant in their action, 
carrying themselves gracefully in the harness. They have 
clean bone, sinewy legs, compactness, short, strong backs, 
powerful lungs, strength, and endurance. They are known by 
their short, clean heads, width across the face at the eyes, 
eyes lively and prominent; they have open and wide under 
jaws, large windpipe, deep brisket, heavy and round body, 
broad in the back, short limbs in proportion to size (of body); 
they have broad quarters, a lively, quick action, indomitable 
spirit, move true and easy in a good, round trot, and are fast 
on the walk ; color dark bay, chestnut, brown, or black, with 
dark, flowing, wavy mane and tail. They make the best of 
roadsters, and live to a great age." 

All do not agree, however, with this estimate of the Morgana, 



The Hokse. 



15 



A distinguished judge of horses in Vermont, quoted by Randall 
in his Introduction to Youatt on the Horse, says : 

" They [the Morgans] are good for an hour's drive — for short 
stages. They are good to run around town with. They are 
good in the light pleasure-wagon — prompt, lively (not spirited), 
and 'trappy.' There is no question among those who have 
had fair opportunities of comparing the Morgans with horses 
of purer hlood and descended from different stocks, in regard to 
the relative position of the Morgan. He is, as he exists at the 
present day, inferior in size, speed, and hottom — in fact, in all 
those qualities necessary to the performance of ' great deeds' 




SHIsRMAN MORGAN. 



on the road or the farm, to the descendants of Messenger, Du- 
roc, imported Magnum Bonum, and many other horses of de- 
served celebrity." 

Sherman Morgan, whose portrait we are permitted to copy 
from Linsley's "Morgan Horse," was foaled in 1835, the prop- 
erty of Moses Cook, of Oampton, K H. Sired by Sherman, g 
sire, Justin Morgan. The pedigree of the dam not fully estab- 
lished, but conceded to have been a very fine animal, and said to 



16 Domestic Animals. 

be from the Justin Morgan. Sherman Morgan is fifteen hands 
high, weighs about 1,050 lbs., is dark chestnut, and very much 
resembles his sire Sherman, but heavier, stockier, and not as 
much action. A fine horse, and is now kept in the stable at 
Lancaster, N. H., where the Sherman died. He is owned bj 
A. J. Congdon. 

4. The Canadian Horse. — This horse abounds in the Cana 
dian Provinces and in the Northern States of the Union, and is 
too well known to require a particular description. It is mainly 
of Norman-French descent. It is a hardy, long-lived animal, 
is easily kept, and very useful on a farm, although generally too 
small for heavy work. A cross between stallions of this breed 
and our common mares produces a superior horse, and such 
crosses are finding favor among farmers. 

5. The Norman Horse. — The French or Norman horse, from 
which the Canadian is descended, is destined to take a more 
prominent place than has hitherto been assigned to it among 
our working horses. We introduce an engraving of one of this 
breed, called Louis Philippe, winch was bred by Edward 
Harris, of Moorestown N. J., by whom the breed was imported 
from France. 

The Norman horse is from the Spanish, of Arabian ancestry, 
and crossed upon the draught horses of Normandy. Mr. 
Harris had admired the speed, toughness, and endurance of the 
French stage-coach horses, and resolved to import this valuable 
stock, and deserves the thanks of the American public for his 
perseverance and sacrifices in this enterprise. The Norman 
horses are enduring and energetic beyond description, and keep 
their condition on hard fare and brutal treatment, when most 
other breeds would quail and die. This variety of horse is 
employed in France to draw the ponderous stage-coaches, called 
"diligences," and travelers express astonishment at the extra- 
ordinary performances of these animals. Each of these huge 
vehicles is designed for eighteen passengers, and when thus 
loaded are equal to five tons weight. Five horses are attached 
to the clumsy and cumbrous carriage, with rude harness, and 



18 Domestic Animals. 

their regular rate of speed with this enormous load is seven 
miles an horr, and this pace is maintained over rough and 
hilly regions. On some routes the roads are lighter, when the 
speed is increased to eight, nine, and sometimes to ten miles an 
hour. 

6. Cleveland Bay. — According to Mr. Youatt, the true Cleve- 
land Bay is nearly extinct in Ergland. They were formerly 
employed as a heavy, slow coach-horse. Mr. Youatt says: 
" The origin of the better kind of coach-horse is the Cleveland 
Bay, confined principally to Yorkshire and Durham, with 
oerhaps Lincolnshire on one side and Northumberland on the 
other, but difficult to meet with pure in either county. The 
Cleveland mare is crossed by a three-fourths or through-bred 
horse of sufficient substance and height, and tbe produce is the 
coach-horse most in repute, with his arched crest and high 
action. From the thorough- bred of sufficient height, but not of 
so much substance, we obtain the four-in-hand and superior 
curricle-horse. 

Cleveland Bays were imported into western New York a 
few years since, where they have spread considerably. They 
have often been exhibited at our State fairs. They are mon- 
strously large, and for their size are symmetrical horses, and 
possess very respectable action. "Whether they would endure 
on the road at any but a moderate pace, we are not informed, 
and have some doubts. Whether they spring from the genu- 
ine and unmixed Cleveland stock, now so scarce in England, 
we have no means of knowing. The half-bloods, the produce 
of a cross with our common mares, are liked by many of our 
farmers. They are said, to make strong, serviceable farm 
beasts — though rather prone to sullenness of temper.* 

7. The Conestoga Horse. — This horse, which is found chiefly 
in Pennsylvania and the adjacent States, is more remarkable 
for endurance than symmetry. In height it sometimes reaches 
seventeen hands ; the legs being long and the body light. 



The Hoese. 



19 



The Conestoga breed makes good carriage aud heavy draft 
horses. 

8. The Clydesdale Horse. — The Clydesdale horse is descended 
from a cross between the Flemish horse and the Lanarkshire 
(Scotland) mares. The mare is derived from the district on the 
Clyde where the breed is chiefly found. Horses of this breed 
are deservedly esteemed for the cart and for the plow on 
heavy soil. They are strong, hardy, steady, true pullers, of 
sound constitution, and from fourteen to sixteen hands high. 
They are broad, thick, heavy, compact, well made for durabil- 




THE OLTDB3DALB HOBSS. 



ity, health, and power. They have sturdy legs, strong shoul- 
ders, back, and hips, a well-arched neck, and a light face and 
head. 

9. The Virginia Horse. — This breed predominates in the 
State from which it takes its name, and abounds to a greater 
or less extent in all the Southern, Western, and Middle States. 
It derives its origin from English blood-borses imported at 
various times, and has been most diligently and purely kept 
in the South. The celebrated Shark, the best horse of his day, 



20 Domestic Animals. 

was sire of the best Virginian horses, while Tally-ho, son of 
Highflyer, peopled the Jerseys.* 

10. The Wild or Prairie Horse. — In the Southwestern 
States wild horses abound, which are doubtless sprung from 
the same Spanish stock as the wild horses of the pampas and 
other parts of the southern continent, all of which are of the 
celebrated Andalusian breed, derived from the Moorish Barb. 
The prairie horses are often captured, and when domesticated 
are found to be capable of great endurance. They are not, 
however, recommended by the symmetry or elegance of ap- 
pearance for which their type is so greatly distinguished, 
being generally rather small and scrubby.t 

11. The American Trotting-Horse. — " "We can not refrain," 
H. S. Eandall says, in the Introduction to Youatt on the Horse, 
already referred to, "from calling attention to our trotting- 
horses, though in reality they do not, at least as a whole, con- 
stitute a breed, or even a distinct variety or family. There i» 
a family of superior trotters, including several of the best our 
country has ever produced, the descendants of Abdallah and 
Messenger, and running back through their sire Mambrino to 
the thorough-bred horse, old Messenger. But many of our 
best trotters have no known pedigrees, and some of them, 
without doubt, are entirely destitute of the blood of the race- 
horse. Lady Suffolk is by Engineer, but the blood of Engineer 
is unknown (she is a gray mare, fifteen hands and two inches 
high). Dutchman has no known pedigree. Other celebrated 
trotters stand in the same category — though we are inclined to 
think that a decided majority of the best, especially at long 
distances, have a greater or less infusion of the blood of the 
race-horse. 

" The United States has undoubtedly produced more superior 
trotters than any other country in the world, and in no other 
country has the speed of the best American trotters beeD 
equaled." 

♦ Farmers' Kegister. t Farmers' Encyclopedia. 



The Horse. 21 

iii.— points of horses. 

Every one who has anything to do with the horse should 
know something of the "poirts" by means of which a good 
animal is distinguished from a bad one. It is necessary to 
understand this, no matter for what particular service the horse 
may be required ; and the qualities indicated by these points 
are universal in all breeds. 

To illustrate this subject and teach the uninstructed how to 
correctly judge the horse, we introduce the accompanying let- 
tered outlines. 

It is evident that to be a good judge of a horse, one must 
have in his memory a model by which to try all that may be 
presented to his criticism and judgment. 

Fig. 5 represents such a model. It is a thoioagh-bred 
horse, in which the artist has endeavored to avoid every fault. 
Fig. 6 is designed to represent a horse in which every good 
point is suppressed. It may not be common to see a horse 
totally destitute of every good point ; but injudicious breeding 
has so obliterated the good ones, that the cut fig. 6 is not a 
caricature, though we confess that its original is little less than 
a caricature on the true ideal of a horse. Such a head is com- 
mon, so is such a shoulder, such a back, quarters, and legs ; 
and if they are not very often all combined in one animal, they 
are, unfortunately, often found distributed among the common 
breeds in such abundance as to mar the beauty and the service 
of three quarters of all the horses in ordinary use. The letters 
are alike on both figures, and will enable the reader to draw a 
comparison between the respective points of each. "We copy 
the description of the cuts from the Farmer's Companion : 

" The most important part of all is probably the direction of 
the shoulder, from A to B. Next to this, the length from the 
hip to the hock, C to D. The point which next to these prob- 
ably most contributes to speed and easy going, is the shortness 
of the canon bone between the knee and the pastern joint, E 
to F, a point without which no leg is good. A horse which 
has all these three points good Avill necessarily and infallibly 



22 



Domestic Animals. 



etand over a great deal of ground, "W to X, that is, the distance 

between his fore and hind feet will be great ; while one which 

is deficient in all of them, or, indeed, in the two first, will as 

Fig. 5. a. t 




assuredly stand like a goat with all its feet gathered under him, 
and will never be either a fast horse or safe under saddle. A 




horse, not in motion, may be more speedily judged of by this 
feature than by any other. One consequence of a fine receding 
shoulder is to give length in the humerus, or upper arm, from 



The Hobse. 23 

B to P, without which a great stride can hardly he attained, 
hut which will seldom if ever be found wanting if the shoulder- 
blade be well placed. A prominent and fleshy chest is admired 
by some, probably because they think it indicative of powerful 
lungs and room for their use. We object to it as adding to 
what it is so desirable to avoid — the weight to be lifted forward 
in the act of progression — while all the space the lungs require 
is to be obtained by depth instead of breadth, as from A to H, 
in which point, if a horse be deficient, he will seldom be fit 
for fast work. The other points which we have marked for 
comparison are G to E, or the width of the leg immediately 
below the knee, which in a well-formed leg will be equal all the 
way down ; in a bad one it will be narrowish immediately below 
the knee, or what is called ' tied in." 1 The shape of the neck 
is more important than might at first thought be supposed, as 
affecting both the wind and the handiness of the mouth ; no 
horse with a faulty neck and a head ill-attached to it, as at Q 
to K in fig. 6, ever possesses a good or manageable mouth. 
The points of the face are not without significance, a feebly 
developed countenance generally showing weakness of courage 
if not of constitution. We therefore like to see a large and 
bony protuberance above the eye, as at L in fig. 5, giving the 
appearance of a sinking immediately below, followed by a 
slightly Roman or protruding inclination toward the nose. 
These wben present are generally signs of 'blood,' which is in 
some proportion or other a quality without which no breed of 
horses will ever improve or long entitle itself to rank as other 
than a race of drudges, fit only for sand or manure carts." 

Bearing these points in mind, you may, by observing and 
comparing the different animals which fall under your eyes, 
soon qualify yourself to give an intelligent opinion of a horse. 
One can not become perfect in this branch of knowledge in a 
week or in a year. Certainly no careful student of this little 
book will allow himself to be imposed upon in the purchase of 
an animal having many of the bad points represented in fig. 6. 
The perfect horse (fig. 5) you will not expect to meet every day. 



24 



Domestic Animals. 




A badly formed horse is not profitable for any purpose; 
because, if so formed, they are either clumsy, inactive, dull 
in mind, or tender and easily broken down. It costs just aa 
much to breed, raise, and keep a poor horse as a good one, and 
the poor one is low in value and unsalable; besides, he is un- 
able to do good service in any sphere, or to endure. 

We copy from Lavater six heads of horses, which indicate 
Fig. 7. different temperaments and a great 

diversity of character and disposition. 
The accompanying remarks are from 
the American Phrenological Jour- 
nal : 

"Fig. 7 has a slow, heavy temper- 
ament ; is without spirit, awkward in 
motion, lazy, stupid in intellect, diffi- 
cult to teach, bears the whip and 
needs it, though it is soon forgotten. He is too lazy to hold up 
his ears or under iip, and is a Fig. 8. 

regular hog-necked, heavy-footed 
animal. 

"Fig. 8 has more intelligence 
and spirit, a more active temper- 
ament, and is disposed to anger, 
will not bear the whip, and shows 
his anger, when teased or irritated, 
in a bold, direct onset with the 
teeth. 

"Fig. 9 is a very active temperament; is a quick, keen, 
active, intelligent animal, but is sly, 
cunning, mischievous, and trickish; 
will be hard to catch in the field, in- 
clined to slip the bridle, will be a great 
shirk in double harness, and will re- 
quire a sharp eye and steady hand to 
drive him, and will want something 
besides a frolicsome boy for a master." 





The Hoese. 



2r 



"Fig. 10 is obstinate, headstrong, easily irritated, deceitful, 
and savage ; will be bard to drive, Fig. 10. 

unhandy, unyielding, sour-temper- 
ed, bad to bick, inclined to balk, 
disposed to fight and crowd his 
mate, and bite and kick his driver." 

"Fig. 11 has a noble, proud dis- 
position, and a lofty, stately car- 
riage, but he is timid, restive, and 
easily irritated and thrown off" his 
mental balance. Such horses should 
be used by steady, calm men, and on roads and in business 
which have little variety, change, or means of excitement. 
Fig. u. Fig. 12. 






Fig. 13. 



"Fig. 12 is a calm, self-possessed animal, with a noble, eleva- 
ted disposition, trustworthy, courageous, good-tempered, well 
adapted to family use, but not remarkable for sharpness of 
mind or activity of body. 
" Figs. 13 and 14 show a 
great contrast in shape of 
head, expression of coun- 
tenance, temperament, dis- 
position, and intelligence. 
The first is a most noble 
animal. 

"Fig. 13 is broad be- 
tween the eyes, full, round- 
ed, and prominent in the 
2 





26 Domestic Animals. 

forehead, indicating benevolence and intellect ; broad between 
the ears, showing courage; broad between the eyes, evincing 
quickness of perception, memory, and capacity to learn. He 
can be taught almost anything, can be trusted, and loves and 
trusts man ; is not timid, will go anywhere, and stand without 
Fig. 14. fastening ; never kicks, bites, 

or runs away. 

"Fig. 14 shows a marked 
contrast with fig. 13 in almost 
every respect ; his narrow and 
contracted forehead shows a 
lack of intelligence, kindness, 
and tractability ; is timid and 
shy in harness, vicious, un- 
friendly, disposed to kick, 
bite, balk, or run away, and 
is fit only for a mill or horse-boat. For all general uses he 
should be avoided, and by no means should such an organiza- 
tion be employed for breeding purposes." 

IV.— COLOB. 

W. C. Spooner, author of several veterinarian works, lias the 
following remarks on color as a sign of other qualities in the 
horse : 

" We have found both good and bad horses of every color, 
and the only rule we can admit as correct is, that certain colors 
denote deficient breeding, -and therefore such animal is not 
likely to be so good as he looks, but is probably deficient in 
bottom or the powers of endurance. These colors are black, 
which prevails so much with cart-horses, and sorrel, dun, pie- 
bald, etc. ; the possessors of which come from the North, and 
possess no Eastern blood. Black horses, unless evidently high 
bred, are very often soft and sluggish, with breeding insuf- 
ficient for their work ; the pedigree of the majority of them 
may be dated from the plow-tail, whatever admixtures there 
may have been since. White hair denotes a thin skin, which 



The Horse. 



27 



is objectionable when it prevails on the legs of horses, as such 



Fig. 15. 




Muzzle 



Common Tbbms denoting the Pakts of a Hoesb. 
animals are more disposed to swelled legs and cracked heels 



Fig. 16. 



than others. Bay horses with black 
legs are greatly esteemed, yet we 
have known many determined slugs 
of this hue. Their constitution is, 
however, almost invariably good. 
Chestnut is the prevailing color 
with our race-horses, and conse- 
quently chestnut horses are gener- 
ally pretty well bred, and possess 
the good and bad qualities which 
obtain most among thorough-breds. 
The Suffolk cart-horse is also dis- 
tinguished by his light chestnut col- 




Ei'Ci'iOH or ..•> House's Foo'j 



28 Domestic Animals. 

or ; and it is no small recommendation to find that this breed 
has, for several years past, carried away the principal prizes at 
the annual shows of the Boyal Agricultural Society of England. 
Gray is a very good color, and generally denotes a considerable 
admixture of Eastern blood." 

V.-STABLES. 

We condense from Stewart's admirable " Stable Book" the 
larger portion of the following useful hints and suggestions in 
reference to stables and their management. 

1. Stables as they Are. — Stable architects have not much to 
boast of. When left to themselves they seem to think of little 
beyond shelter and confinement. If the weather be kept out 
and the horse be kept in, the stable is sufficient. If light and 
air be demanded, the doorway will admit them, and other 
apertures are superfluous. 

The majority of stables have been built with little regard to 
the comfort and health of the horse. Most of them are too 
small, too dark, too close, or too open ; and some are mere 
dungeons, destitute of every convenience. 

2. Situation of Stables. — When any choice exists, a situation 
should be chosen which admits of draining, shelter from the 
coldest winds, and facility of access. Damp places are especially 
to be avoided. It is in damp stables that we expect to find 
horses with bad eyes, coughs, greasy heels, swelled legs, mange, 
and a long, dry, staring coat, which no grooming can cure. 
Take every precaution, then, against dampness in your stables. 

3. Size of Stables. — They are seldom too large in proportion 
to the number of stalls ; but are often made to hold too many 
horses. Horses require pure air as well as human beings ; and 
the process of breathing has the same effect in their case as in 
ours — changing it to that poisonous substance, carbonic acid 
gas. With twenty or thirty horses in a single apartment no 
ordinary ventilation is sufficient to keep the air pure. Large 
stables, too, are liable to frequent and great alterations of tem- 
perature. When several horses are out, those which remain 



The Hobse. 29 

are often rendered uncomfortably cold, and when the stable is 
full the whole are fevered or excited by excess of heat. Effi- 
cient ventilation — a very important object — is also much more 
difficult in a large than in a small stable. 

In width the stable may vary from sixteen to eighteen feet ; 
and in length it must have six feet for each stall. Large cart- 
horses require a little more room both in length and breadth of 
stable. The number of stalls should not exceed sixteen, and it 
would be better if there were only eight. 

Double-rowed stables, or those in which the stalls occupy 
both sides, require least space, and for horses kept at full work 
are sufficiently suitable, but for carriage horses single-rowed 
stables are better. If the double-rowed are used, the gangway 
should be wide, to prevent the horses from kicking at each 
other, as they are apt to do when they grow playful from half 
idleness. 

4. Windows* — "Windows are too much neglected in stables, and 
where they exist at all are generally too few, too small, and ill 
placed. Some think horses do not require light. — that they 
thrive best in the dark ; but many a horse has become blind 
for the want of light in his stable. When side windows can 
not be introduced, a portion of the hay loft must be sacrificed 
and light introduced from the roof. Side windows should be 
so arranged that the light will not fall directly upon the eyes 
of the horse. 

5. Floors. — Stable floors may be of stone, brick, plank, or 
earth. One of the best kinds of stable floor, where the soil is 
dry, is made of a composition of lime, ashes, and clay, mixed 
up in equal parts into a mortar and spread from twelve to fif- 
teen inches deep over the surface of the ground forming the 
bottom of the stable. It will dry in ten days and makes a very 
smooth, fine flooring, particularly safe, easy, and agreeable for 
horses to stand upon, and free from all the objections to stone, 
brick, and wood.* 



30 Domestic Animals. 

6. Draining. — A gutter or other contrivance for carrying off 
the urine should always be made in a stable, otherwise it will 
be foul and damp. It should be conveyed into a tank and care- 
fully saved as manure. 

7. Racks and Mangers. — These should be so placed that the 
horse can eat from them with ease. The face of the rack next 
the horse should be perpendicular, or as nearly so as possible. 
Sometimes the face is so sloping and the rack so high that the 
horse has to turn his head almost upside down to get at his food. 

The mangers or troughs from which the horse eats his grain 
are now sometimes made of cast iron, which we deem a great 
improvement over wood. The manger should be concave and 
not flat at the bottom. Mangers are generally placed too low. 
The bottom should be from three feet and a half to four feet 
from the ground, according to the height of the horse. 

8. Ventilation of Stables. — Impure air, as we have already 
remarked, is hurtful to the horse as well as to the human being 
inducing disease and shortening life. To avoid it in our own 
case, we (sometimes!) ventilate our houses. If we would have 
our horses healthy we must do the same for the stable. Aper- 
tures, one for each stall, should be provided for carrying off the 
impure air. These should be so near the top of the building as 
practicable. It should be eight or ten inches square. Smaller 
apertures near the floor or not far from the horse's nostrils will 
serve to admit fresh air.* 

• 0. Warmth, etc. — If you wish to have your horses thrive 
and continue healthy, you can not pay too much attention to 
their comfort. Their stables should be warm in winter and 
cool in summer. To secure these conditions, they should be 
properly constructed. [For plans, see " The House."] To keep 
stables sufficiently warm, no artificial means are required. It 
is enough that the outside air, except so much as is required 
for ventilation, be excluded during the coldest weather. "Warm 
blankets should of course be used at the same time. 

* See Chapter on Barns and Stables, in " The House " 



The Horse. 31 

vi.— feeding. 

1. The Best Food for iforses.— Considerable care and system 
are necessary in feeding horses, so as to keep them in the best 
health and the highest working order. 

" The best food for ordinary working-horses in America," 
A. B. Allen says, "is as much good hay or grass as they will 
eat, corn-stalks or blades, or for the want of these, straw, and 
a mixture of from sixteen to twenty-four quarts per day, of 
about half and half of oats and the better quality of wheat bran. 
"When the horse is seven years old past, two to four quarts of 
corn or hominy or meal ground from the corn and cob is 
preferable to the pure grain. Two to four quarts of wheat, 
barley, rye, buckwheat, peas, or beans, either whole or ground, 
may be substituted for the corn. A pint of oil meal or a gill of 
flax-seed mixed with the other food is very good for a relish, es- 
pecially in keeping up a healthy system and the bowels open, and 
in giving the hair a fine glossy appearance. Potatoes and 
other roots, unless cooked, do not seem to be of much benefit 
in this climate, especially in winter — they lie cold upon the 
stomach and subject the horse to scouring ; besides, they a«re 
too watery for a hard-working animal. Corn is fed too much 
at the South and West. It makes horses fat, but can not give 
them that hard, muscular flesh which oats do; hence their 
softness and want of endurance in general work and on the 
road, in comparison with Northern and Eastern horses, reared 
and fed on oats and more nutritious grasses." 

2. YiorTc and Digestion. — Slow work aids digestion, empties 
the bowels, and sharpens the appetite. Hence it happens that 
on Sunday night and Monday morning there are more cases of 
colic and founder than during any other part of the w T eek. 
Horses that never want an appetite ought not to have an un- 
limited allowance of hay on Sunday; they have time to 
eat a great deal more than they need, and the torpid state of 
the stomach and bowels, produced by a day of idleness, renders 
an additional quantity very dangerous. Far.n and cart horses 
are fed immediately before commencing their labor, and the 



32 Domestic Animals. 

appetite with which they return shows that the stomach is not 
full. 

During fast work digestion is suspended. In the general 
commotion excited by violent exertion, the stomach can hardly 
he in a favorable condition for performing its duty. The blood 
circulates too rapidly to permit the formation of gastric juice 
or its combination with the food; and the blood and the nerv- 
ous influence are so exclusively concentrated and expended 
upon the muscular system, that none can be spared for carry- 
ing on the digestive process. 

3. Bulk Essential. — Condensed food is necessary for fast- 
working horses. Their food must be in less compass than that 
of the farm or cart horse. But to this condensation there are 
some limits. Grain affords all, and more than all, the nutri- 
ment a horse is capable of consuming, even under the most 
extraordinary exertion. His stomach and bowels can hold 
more than they are able to digest. Something more than nu- 
triment is wanted. The bowels must suffer a moderate degree 
of distension ; more than a wholesome allowance of gram can 
produce. 

When hay is very dear and grain cheap, it is customary in 
many stables to give less than the usual allowance of hay, and 
more grain. The alteration is sometimes carried too far, and 
is often made too suddenly. The horses may have as much 
grain as they will eat, yet it does not suffice without fodder. 
Having no hay, they will leave the grain to eat the litter. 
When the ordinary fodder, then, is very dear, its place must 
be supplied by some other which will produce a wholesome 
distension, though it may not yield so much nutriment. Straw 
or roots, either or both, may be used in such cases. The ex- 
cessively tucked-up flank, and the horse's repeated efforts to 
eat his litter, show when his food is not of sufficient bulk, and 
this indication must not be disregarded. 

4. Quantity of Food. — The quantity of food may be insuffi- 
cient, or it may be in excess. The consumption is influenced 
by the work, the weather, the horse's condition, age, temper, 



The Hokse. 33 

form, and health ; these circumstances, especially the work, 
must regulate the allowance. 

"When the horse has to work as much and as often as he is 
ahle, his allowance of food should be unlimited. 

"When the work is such as to destroy the legs more than it 
exhausts the system, the food must be given with some restric- 
tion, unless the horse be a poor eater. 

When the work is moderate, or less than moderate, a good 
feeder will eat too much. 

"When the weather is cold, horses that are much exposed tc- 
it require more food than when the weather is warm. 

"When the horse is in good working condition, he needs less 
food than while he is only getting into condition. 

Toung growing horses require a little more food than those 
of mature age ; but, as they are not fit for full work, the dif- 
ference is not great. 

Old horses, those that have begun to decline in vigor, require 
more food than the young or the matured. 

Hot-tempered, irritable horses seldom feed well ; but those 
that have good appetites require more food to keep them in 
condition, than others of quiet and calm disposition. 

Small-bellied, narrow-chested horses require more food than 
those of deep and round carcass ; but few of them eat enough 
to maintain them in condition for full work. 

Lame, greasy-heeled, and harness-galled horses require an 
extra allowance of food to keep them in working condition. 

Sickness, fevers, inflammations, all diseases which influence 
health so much as to throw the horse off work, demand, with 
few exceptions, a spare diet, which, in general, consists of 
bran-mashes, grass, carrots, and hay.* 

5. Watering. — This is a part of stable management little 
regarded by the farmer. He lets his horses loose morning and 
night, and they go to the nearest pond or brook and drink their 
fill, and no harm results, for they obtain that kind of water 

* Stewart's Stable Book. 
2* 



34 Domestic Animals. 

which nature designed them to have, in a manner prepared 
for them hy some unknown influence of the atmosphere, as 
well as by the deposition of many saline admixtures. 

The difference between hard and soft water is known to 
every one. There is nothing in which the different effect of 
hard and soft water is so evident as in the stomach and di- 
gestive organs of the horse. Hard water drawn fresh from the 
well will assuredly make the coat of a horse unaccustomed to 
it stare, and it will not unfrequently gripe and otherwise injure 
him. He is injured, however, not so much by the hardness of 
the well-water as by its coldness — particularly by its coldness 
in summer, and when it is in many degrees below tbe tempera- 
ture of tbe atmosphere. The water in the brook and the 
pond being warmed by long exposure to the air, as well as 
having become soft, the horse drinks freely of it without danger. 

If the horse were watered three times a day, and especially 
in summer, he would often be saved from tbe sad torture of 
thirst, and from many a disease. Whoever has observed the 
eagerness with which the over-worked horse, hot and tired, 
plunges his muzzle into the pail, and the difficulty of stop- 
ping him until he has drained tbe last drop, may form some 
idea of what he had previously suffered, and will not won- 
der at the violent spasms, and inflammation, and sudden 
death that often result. There is a prejudice in the minds of 
many persons against the horse being fully supplied with water. 
They think that it injures his wind, and disables him for quick 
and hard work. If he is galloped, as he too often is, immedi- 
ately after drinking, his wind may be irreparably injured ; but 
if he were oftener suffered to satiate his thirst at the intervals 
of rest he would be happier and better. It is a fact unsuspect- 
ed by those who have not carefully observed the horse, that 
if he has frequent access to water he will not drink so much 
in the course of the day as another will do, who, to cool his 
parched mouth, swallows as fast as he can and knows not 
when to stop. 

On a journey a horse should be liberally supplied with 



The Hoese. 35 

water. "When he is a little cooled, two or three quarts may he 
given to him, and after that his feed. Before he has finished 
his corn, two or three quarts more may be offered. He will 
take no harm if this is repeated three or four times during a long 
and hot day.* 

VII.— GENEEAL MANAGEMENT. 

1. Air. — We have spoken of the necessity of ventilation, 
Hear what that great authority, Youatt, says : 

" If the stable is close, the air will not only be hot but foul. 
The breathing of every animal contaminates it ; and when in 
the course of the night, with every aperture stopped, it passes 
again and again through the lungs, the blood can not undergo 
its proper and healthy change ; digestion will not be so per- 
fectly performed, and all the functions of life are injured. Let 
the owner of a valuable horse think of his passing twenty or 
twenty-two out of the twenty-four hours in this debilitating 
atmosphere ! Nature does wonders in enabling every animal 
to accommodate itself to the situation in which it is placed, 
and the horse that lives in the stable-oven suffers less from it 
than would scarcely be conceived possible: but he does not, 
and can not, possess the power and the hardihood which he 
would a'cquire under other circumstances. 

" The air of the improperly close and heated stable is still 
further contaminated by the urine and dung, which rapidly 
ferment there, and give out stimulating and unwholesome 
vapors. When a person first enters an ill-managed stable, and 
especially early in the morning, he is annoyed not only by the 
heat of the confined air, but by a pungent smell, resembling 
hartshorn ; and can he be surprised at the inflammation of the 
eyes, and the chronic cough, and the i iisease of the lungs, by 
which the animal, who has been all night ihut up in this vitia- 
ted atmosphere, is often attacked; or if glanders and farcy 
should occasionally break out in such stables ? It has been 
ascertained by chemical experiment that the urine of the horse 

* Youatt. 



36 Domestic Animals. 

contains in it an exceedingly large quantity of hartshorn; and 
not only so, but that, influenced by the heat of a crowded 
stable, and possibly by otber decompositions that are going for- 
ward at the same time, this ammoniacal vapor begins to be 
rapidly given out almost immediately after the urine is voided." 

Si. Litter. — The facts just stated in reference to the plenti- 
ful escape of ammoniacal gas from the urine, show the necessity 
of frequently removing the litter which is soon saturated with 
it. It rapidly putrefies, emitting noisome odors and contami- 
nating the air. Everything hastening decomposition should be 
carefully removed where life and health are to be preserved. 
Litter that has been much wetted and has begun to decay 
should be swept out every morning. 

No heap of fermenting dung should be suffered to remain 
during the day in the corner or any part of the stable. 

3. Grooming. — Of this little need be said to the farmer in 
reference to his working horses, since custom, and apparently 
without ill effect, has allotted to them so little of the comb 
and brush. " The animal that is worked all day and turned 
out at night," Youatt says, " requires little more to be done to 
him than to have the dirt brushed off his limbs. Eegular 
grooming, by rendering his skin more sensible to the alteration 
of temperature and the inclemency of the weather, would be 
prejudicial. The horse that is altogether turned out, needs no 
grooming. The dandruff or scurf, which accumulates at the 
roots of the hair, is a provision of nature to defend him from 
the wind and the cold. 

"It is to the stabled horse, highly fed and little or irreg- 
ularly worked, that grooming is of so much consequence. 
Good rubbing with the brush or the curry-comb opens the 
pores of the skin, circulates the blood to the extremities of 
the body, produces free and healthy perspiration, and stands in 
the room of exercise. No horse will carry a fine coat without 
either unnatural heat or dressing. They both effect the same 
purpose ; they both increase the insensible perspiration ; but 
the first does it at the expense of health and strength, while 



The Hoese. 37 

the second, at the same time that it produces a glow on the 
skin and a determination of blood to it, rouses all the energies 
of the frame. It would be well for the proprietor of the horse 
if he were to insist — and to see that his orders are really obeyed 
— that the fine coat in which he and his groom so much delight 
is produced by honest rubbing, and not by a heated stable and 
thick clothing, and, most of all, not by stimulating or injurious 
spices. The horse should be regularly dressed every day, in 
addition to the grooming that is necessary after work. 

" When the weather will permit the horse to be taken out, 
he should never be groomed in the stable, unless he is an 
animal of peculiar value, or placed for a time under peculiar 
circumstances. Without dwelling on the want of cleanliness, 
when the scurf and dust that are brushed from the horse lodge 
in his manger and mingle with his food, experience teaches, 
that if the cold is not too great, the animal is braced and invig- 
orated to a degree that can not be attained in the stable, from 
being dressed in the open air. There is no necessity, however, 
for half the punishment which many a groom inflicts upon the 
horse in the act of dressing ; and particularly on one whose 
skin is thin and sensible. The curry-comb should at all times 
be lightly applied. With many horses, its use may be almost 
dispensed with ; and even the brush needs not to be so hard, 
nor the points of the bristles so irregular, as they often are. 
A soft brush, with a little more weight of the hand, will be 
equally effectual and a great deal more pleasant to the horse. 
A hair-cloth, while it will seldom irritate and tease, will be 
almost sufficient with horses that have a thin skin, and that 
have not been neglected. After all, it is no slight task to dress 
a horse as it ought to be done. It occupies no little time, and 
demands considerable patience as well as dexterity. It will be 
readily ascertained whether a horse has been well dressed, by 
rubbing him with one of the fingers. A greasy stain will detect 
the idleness of the groom. When, however, the horse is chang- 
ing his coat, both the curry-comb and the brush should be 
used as lightly as possible. 



38 Domestic Animals. 

" Whoever would be convinced of the benefit of friction to 
the horse's skin and to the horse generally, needs only to ob- 
serve the effects produced by well hand-rubbing the legs of a 
tired horse. "While every enlargement subsides, and the pain- 
ful stiffness disappears, and the legs attain their natural warmth 
and become fine, the animal is evidently and rapidly reviving ; 
he attacks his food with appetite, and then quietly lies down 
to rest." 

4. Exercise. — Of this the farm horse generally has enough. 
His work is tolerably regular, not exhausting, and he generally 
maintains his health and has his life prolonged to an extent 
rare among horses of " leisure." But a gentleman's or a trades- 
man's horse suffers a great deal more from idleness than he 
does from work. A stable-fed horse should have two hours' 
exercise every day, if he is to be kept free from disease. Noth- 
ing of extraordinary, or even of ordinary, labor can be effected 
on the road or in the field without sufficient and regular exercise. 
It is this alone which can give energy to the system or devel- 
ope the powers of any animal. The animal that, with the 
usual stable feeding, stands idle for three or four days, as is the 
case in many establishments, must suffer. He is predisposed to 
fever, or to grease, or, most of all, to diseases of the foot ; and 
if, after three or four days of inactivity he is ridden far and 
fast he is almost sure to have inflammation of the lungs or of 
the feet. 

VIII— VICES AND BAD HABITS. 

The vices and bad habits of the horse, like those of his mas 
ter, are oftener than otherwise the consequence of a faulty ed- 
ucation. We are convinced that innately vicious horses are 
comparatively few. We condense from Youatt the following 
hints on this subject. 

1. Restkeness. — At the head of all the vices of the horse is 
rsstivQness, the most annoying and the most dangerous of all. 
It is the produce of bad temper and worse education; and, 
like all other habits founded on nature and stamped by edn« 
cation, it is inveterate. Whether it appears in the form of 



The Hokse. 39 

kicking or rearing, plunging or bolting, or in any way that 
threatens danger to the rider or the horse, it rarely admits of 
cure. A determined rider may, to a certain extent, subjugate 
the animal ; or the horse may have his favorites, or form his 
attachments, and with some particular person he may be com- 
paratively or perfectly manageable ; but others can not long 
depend upon him, and even his master is not always sure of 
him. 

2. Backing or Balking. — Some horses have the habit of 
backing at first starting, and that more from playfulness than 
desire of mischief. A moderate application of the whip will 
usually be effectual. Others, even after starting, exhibit con- 
siderable obstinacy and viciousness. This is frequently the 
effect of bad breaking. 

A large and heavy stone should be put behind the wheel be- 
fore starting, when the horse, finding it more difficult to back 
than to go forward, will gradually forget this unpleasant trick. 
It will likewise be of advantage as often as it can be managed, 
so to start that the horse shall have to back up-hill. The dif- 
ficulty of accomplishing this will soon make him readily go 
forward. A little coaxing or leading will assist in accomplish- 
ing the cure. 

3. Biting. — This is perhaps sometimes the consequence of 
natural ferocity, but is more frequently acquired from the fool- 
ish teasing play of hostlers and stable-boys. At first his biting 
is half playful and half in earnest, but finally becomes habitual 
and degenerates into absolute viciousness. It is seldom that 
anything can be done in the way of cure. Kindness will aggra- 
vate the evil and no degree of severity will correct it. " I have 
6een," Professor Stuart says, " biters punished until they trem- 
bled in every joint and were ready to drop, but have never in 
any case known them cured by this treatment or by any other. 
The lash is forgotten in an hour, and the horse is as ready and 
determined to repeat the offense as before. He appears unable 
to resist the temptation, and in its worst form biting is a spe- 
cies of insanity." 



4:0 Domestic Animals. 

But if biting can not be cured it may almost always be pre- 
vented, and every proprietor of horses, while he insists upon 
gentle and humane treatment of his animals, should strictly 
forbid this horse-play. 

4. Kicking. — This, as a vice, is another consequence of the 
culpable habit of grooms and stable-boys of teasing the horse. 
That which is at first an indication of annoyance at the pinch- 
ing and tickling of the groom, and without any design to injure, 
gradually becomes the expression of anger, and the effort to do 
mischief. The horse, - likewise, too soon recognizes the least 
appearance of timidity, and takes advantage of the discovery. 
There is no cure for this vice after it has become a confirmed 
habit, and he can not be justified who keeps a kicking horse 
in his stable. Before the habit is inveterately established, a 
thorn-bush or a piece of furze fastened against the partition or 
post will sometimes effect a cure. "When the horse finds that 
he is pretty severely pricked he will not long continue to 
punish himself. 

5. Hearing. — This sometimes results from playfulness, car- 
ried, indeed, to an unpleasant and dangerous extent ; but it is 
oftener a desperate and occasionally successful effort to unhorse 
the rider, and consequently a vice. The horse that has twice 
decidedly and dangerously reared should never be trusted 
again, unless, indeed, it was the fault of the rider, who had 
been using a deep curb and a sharp bit. Some of the best 
horses will contend against these, and then rearing may be 
immediately and permanently, cured by using a snaffle bridle 
alone. 

6. Running Away. — There is no certainty of cure for this 
vice. The only method which affords any probability of suc- 
cess is, to ride or drive such a horse with a strong curb and 
sharp bit ; to have him always firmly in hand ; and if he will 
run away and the place will admit of it, to give him (sparing 
neither curb nor whip) a great deal more running than he likes. 

7. Overreaching. — This unpleasant noise, known also by the 
term "clicking," arises from the toe of the hind-foot knocking 



The Horse. 41 

against the shoe of the fore-foot. If the animal is young, the 
action of the horse may be materially improved ; otherwise 
nothing can be clone, except to keep the toe of the hind-foot as 
short and as round as it can safely be, and to bevel off and round 
the toe of the shoe, like that which has been worn off by a 
stumbling horse, and, perhaps, to lower the heel of the fore-foot 
a little. 

8. Rolling. — Some horses have the habit of rolling in the 
stable, by which they are liable to get cast, bruised, and half 
strangled. The only remedy is to tie such a horse with just 
length of halter enough to lie down, but not allow of his resting 
his head on the ground. This is an unpleasant means of cure, 
and not always a safe one. 

9. Shying. — This vice is often the result of cowardice, or 
playfulness, or want of work, but at other times it is the con- 
sequence of a defect of sight ; and in its treatment it is of great 
importance to distinguish between these different causes. For 
the last, every allowance must be made, and care must be taken 
that the fear of correction is not associated" with the imagined 
existence of some terrifying object. The severe use of the whip 
and the spur can not do good here, and are likely to aggravate 
the vice ten-fold. A word half encouraging and half scolding 
will tell the horse that there was nothing to fear, and will give 
him confidence in his rider on a future occasion. 

The shying from skittishness or affectation is quite a different 
affair, and must be conquered : but how ? Severity is altogether 
out of place. If he is forced into contact with the object by 
dint of correction, the dread of punishment will afterward be 
associated with that object, and on the next occasion his start- 
ings will be more frequent and more dangerous. The way to 
cure him is to go on, turning as little as possible out of the road, 
giving a harsh word or two and a gentle touch, and then taking 
no more notice of the matter. After a few times, whatever 
may have been the object which he chose to select as the pre- 
tended cause of affright, he will pass it almost without notice. 

10. Slipping the Halter. — Many horses are so clever at this 



42 Domestic Animals. 

trick that s .arcely a night passes without their getting loose. 
It is a hahit which may lead to dangerous results, and should be 
cured at once by some extra means of securing the halter in its 
place, or by a strap attached to it and buckled securely (but 
not tight enough to-be a serious inconvenience), around the 
neck. 

11. Tripping. — He must be a skillful practitioner or a mere 
pretender who promises to remedy this habit. If it arises from 
a heavy fore-hand and the fore-legs being too much under the 
horse, no one can alter the natural frame of the animal ; if it 
proceeds from tenderness of the foot, grogginess, or old lameness, 
these ailments are seldom cured. Also, if it is to be traced to 
habitual carelessness and idleness, no whipping will rouse the 
drone. A known stumbler should never be ridden or driven 
by any one who values his safety or his life. 

If the stumbler has the foot kept as short and the toe pared 
as close as safety will permit, and the shoe is rounded at the 
toe, or has that shape given to it which it naturally acquires in 
a fortnight from the peculiar action of such a horse, the animal 
may not stumble quite so much ; or if the disease which pro- 
duced the habit can be alleviated, some trifling good may be 
done, but in almost every case a stumbler should be got rid of, 
or put to slow and heavy work. If the latter alternative is 
adopted, he may trip as much as he pleases, for the weight of 
the load and the motion of the other horses will keep him upor 
his legs. 

IX.-HINTS TO BUYERS. 

1. Warranty. — A man should have a more perfect knowledge 
of horses than falls to the lot of most men, and a perfect knowl- 
edge of the seller also, who ventures to buy a horse without a 
warranty. This warranty is usually embodied in the receipt, 
which may be expressed as follows : 

Received at Louisville, August 10th, 1858, from C. D., one hundred dollars 
for a gray horse warranted only five years old, sound, free from vice, and quiet 
to ride or drive. A. V. 

" A receipt, including merely the word ' warranted,' ex* 



The Hokse. 43 

tends only to soundness; 'warranted sound' goes no farther; 
the age, freedom from vice, and quietness to ride and drive, 
should be especially named. This warranty comprises every 
cause of unsoundness that can he detected, or that lurks in the 
constitution at the time of sale, and to every vicious habit that 
the animal has hitherto shown. To establish a breach of war- 
ranty, and to be enabled to tender a return of the horse and 
recover the difference of price, the purchaser must prove that 
it was unsound or viciously disposed at the time of sale. 

"No price will imply a warranty or be equivalent to one; 
there must be an express warranty. A fraud must be proved 
in the seller, in order that the buyer may be enabled to return 
the horse or maintain an action for the price. The warranty 
should be given at the time of sale. A warranty, or a promise 
to warrant the horse, given at any period antecedent to the 
sale, is invalid; for horse flesh is a very perishable commodity, 
and the constitution and usefulness of the animal may undergo 
a considerable change in the space of a few days. A warranty 
after the sale is invalid, for it is given without any legal con- 
sideration. In order to complete the purchase, there must be 
a transfer of the animal, or a memorandum of agreement, or 
the payment of the earnest-money. The least sum will suffice 
for earnest. No verbal promise to buy or to sell is binding 
without one of these. The moment either of these is effected, 
the legal transfer of property or delivery is made, and what- 
ever may happen to the horse, the seller retains, or is entitled 
to, the money. If the purchaser exercises any act of owner- 
ship, by using the animal without leave of the vender, or by 
having any operation performed, or any medicine given to him, 
he makes him his own. 

" If a person buys a horse warranted sound, and discovering 
no defect in him, and relying on the warranty, re-sells him, 
and the unsoundness is discovered, by the second purchaser, 
and the horse returned to the first purchaser, or an action com- 
menced against him, he has his claim on the first seller, and 
may demand of him not only the price of the horse, or the dif- 



44 Domestic Animals. 

ference in value, but every expense that may have been in- 
curred. 

" Absolute exchanges of one horse for another, or a sum of 
money being paid in addition by one of the parties, stand on 
the same ground as simple sales. If there is a warranty on 
either side, and that is broken, an action may be maintained : 
if there be no warranty, deceit must be proved." 

2. What constitutes Unsoundness? — " That horse is sound in 
whom there is no disease, and no alteration of structure that 
impairs or is likely to impair his natural usefulness. The horse 
is unsound that labors under disease, or has some alteration of 
structure which does interfere, or is likely to interfere, with 
his natural usefulness. The term ' natural usefulness'' must 
be borne in mind. One horse may possess great speed, but is 
soon knocked up ; another will work ail day, but can not be 
got beyond a snail's pace; a third with a heavy fore-hand is 
liable to stumble, and is continually putting to hazard the neck 
of his rider ; another, with an irritable constitution and a loose, 
washy form, loses his appetite and begins to scour if a little 
extra work is exacted from him. The term unsoundness must 
not be applied to either of these ; it would be opening far too 
widely a door to disputation and endless wrangling. The buy- 
er can discern, or ought to know, whether the form of the 
horse is that which will render him likely to suit his purpose, 
and he should try him sufficiently to ascertain his natural 
strength, endurance, and manner of going. Unsoundness, we 
repeat, has reference only to disease, or to that alteration of 
structure which is connected with, or will produce, disease and 
lessen the usefulness of the animal."* 

♦ Youatt 



The Ass and the Mule. 



45 



n. 

THE ASS AND THE MULE. 



[ had been writ down an aaa I— Dogberry. 




I.— THE ASS. 

TJFFON has well observed that the asD is de- 
spised and neglected only because we possess a 
more noble and powerful animal in tbe horse, 
and that if the horse were unknown, and the 
care and attention that we lavish upon him 
were transferred to his now neglected and despised rival, the 
latter would be increased in size and developed in mental qual- 
ities to an extent which it would be difficult to anticipate, but 
which Eastern travelers, who have observed both animals in 
their native climates, and among nations by whom they are 
equally valued, and the good qualities of each justly appreci- 
ated, assure us to be the fact. 

The character and habits of the horse and the ass are in 
many respects directly opposed. The one is proud, fiery, im- 
petuous, nice in his tastes, and delicate in his constitution; 
subject, like a pampered menial, to many diseases, and having 
many wants and habits unknown in a state of nature. The 
other, on the contrary, is humble, patient, quiet, and hardy. 

For food the ass contents himself with the most harsh and 
disagreeable herbs, which other animals will scarcely touch; 
in the choice of water he is, however, very nice, drinking only 
that which is perfectly clear, and at brooks with which he is 
acquainted. 

The qualities of the ass as a working animal are almost or 
quite unknown in this country, but in other lands he is found 



46 Domestic Animals. 

very serviceable to the poor who are not able to buy or to keep 
horses. He requires very little care, bears correction with 
firmness, sustains labor and hunger with patience, and is sel- 
dom or never sick. 

The varieties of the ass, in countries favorable to their de- 
velopment, are great. In Guinea the asses are large, and in 
shape even excel the native horses. The asses of Arabia 
(Ohardin says) are perhaps the handsomest animals in the 
world. Their coat is smooth and clean ; they carry the head 
elevated; and have fine and well-formed legs, which they 
throw out gracefully in walking or galloping. In Persia also 
they are finely formed, some being even stately, and much used 
in draught and for carrying burdens, while others are more 
lightly proportioned, and used for the saddle by persons of 
quality ; frequently fetching the large sum of 400 livres ; and 
being taught a kind of ambling pace, are richly caparisoned 
and used by the rich and luxurious nobles.* 

II.— THE MULE. 

The principal objection to the ass, as a beast of burden, being 
hiB small size, the ingenuity of man early devised means to 
remedy this defect by crossing him with the horse ; thus pro- 
ducing an intermediate animal with the size and strength of 
the latter, and the patience, hardiness, and sure-footedness cf 
the former. 

The mule is the offspring of the ass and the mare, or the 
female ass and the horse. In the latter case the produce is 
called a jennet, and is much less hardy, and therefore rarely 
bred. 

Mules are much used in warm climates, where they are pre- 
ferred to horses for many purposes. They are very numerous 
in our Southern States and not uncommon in the Middle and 
"Western States. 

Kentucky is the great mule-breeding State. Many thou- 

* Blane's Encyclopedia of Rural Sports. 



The Ass and the Mule. 47 

sands are annually raised there for the New York and Southern 
markets. A correspondent of the American Veterinary Jour- 
nal says : 

" The mule trade is one of the largest of Kentucky, and af- 
fords one of her chief sources of revenue. The mule is fed from 
weaning time (which is generally at the age of five or six 
months) to the full extent of its capacity to eat, and that, 
too, on oats and corn, together with hay and fodder. In lieu 
of the long food, soiling is usually adopted in the summer, as 
they are kept confined in a pound or paddock, containing an 
acre or two of ground, which is usually partially shaded, in 
herds of one hundred or one hundred and fifty. In this way 
they are kept until the fall after they are two years old, receiv- 
ing a sort of forcing hot-house treatment. At this age they 
are taken to the Southern market, not always hy the feeder, 
hut more generally by the speculator or trader ; there they are 
sold to the planter entirely unbroken. The planters are too 
cautious to buy a broken mule, lest it should prove to be an an- 
tiquated, broken-down beast, fattened up and sold for a young 
one — as it is more difficult to judge of his age than that of a 
horse. The external marks of time and service are not gener- 
ally so apparent upon him. But it is a small job to break a 
mule. It is only necessary to have a steady horse to work him, 
with a second hand to drive him an hour or two to keep him 
up, after which he is considered ready for any service that the 
farmer may require of him. He may kick once or twice, but 
is unlike the spirited horse, who when he commences is apt to 
kick himself out of the harness before he stops. 

" Persons who have tried them on the farm are pleased with 
them. They never get sick and rarely get lame, will do as 
much work as horses which will cost twice as much money, 
and at the same time will subsist on less and inferior food ; for 
a mule will work very well on wheat straw and corn shucks, 
whereas the horse must have grain as well as a good allowance 
of long food. They are better for our servants to handle, as 
they can stand neglect and violent treatment better than the 



48 



Domestic Animals. 



horse, and a blemish, such as the loss of an eye, does not 
impair their value so much as that of the horse." 

To have large and handsome mules, the mare should be of a 
large breed and well proportioned, with rather small limbs, a 
moderate sized head, and a good forehead ; and the ass should 
be of the large Spanish breed. 




Cattle. 49 



III. 

CATTLE. 

The noble, patient ox and gentle cow 
Kind usage claim ; and he's a brute indeed, 
Unworthy of companionship with them, 
Who with neglect or cruelty repays 
The debt he owes their race.— Knox. 

I.-HISTOKT 

"F the ox tribe {Bovidm) there are eight species 
— the ancient bison {Bos urus)\ the bison or 
American buffalo (B. bison) ; the musk ox (B. 
moschatus) ; thegayal (B. frontalis) ; the grunt- 
ing ox {B. grunniens) ; the buffalo of Southern 
Africa {B. coffer) ; the common buffalo (B. bubulw) ; and the 
common domestic ox (B. taurws). It is with the last only that 
we have to do in the present work. 

The ox has been domesticated and in the service of man 
from the remotest antiquity. The Bible informs us that cattle 
were kept by the early descendants of Adam (Gen. iv. 20). 
That their value has been duly appreciated in all ages and in 
all climates, is shown by authentic history. Both the Hindoos 
and the Egyptians placed the ox among their deities ; and no 
quadruped certainly is more worthy to be thus exalted. 

The parent race of tbe ox is supposed by some to have 
been much larger than any of the present varieties. The urns, 
in his wild state at least, was an enormous and fierce animal, 
and ancient legends have thrown around him an air of mys- 
tery. In almost every part of the continent of Europe and in 
England, skulls, evidently belonging to cattle, have been found 
far exceeding in size those of the present day ; but these may 
have belonged to exceptional individuals. 




50 Domestic Animals. 

Of the original race of British cattle no satisfactory descrip- 
tion, occurs in any ancient author ; but it is believed that, with 
occasional exceptions, they possessed no great bulk or beauty. 
They were doubtless numerous, for Ctesar tells us, in his Com- 
mentaries, that the ancient Britons neglected tillage and lived 
on milk and flesh. It was that occupation and mode of life 
which suited their state of society. A few specimens of the 
pure ancient breed, descendants of cattle which escaped from 
their masters centuries since and became wild, may now be 
seen in the parks of gentlemen in England. They are very 
wild, and are said to be untamable. 

The breeds of cattle in England are remarkable for their 
numerous varieties, caused by the almost endless crossings of 
one breed with another. 

The breeds of cattle now found in America are all derived 
from Europe, and those of the United States mainly from Eng- 
land. The early importations were of inferior grades, as the 
grand improvements in British cattle, commenced by Bake- 
well, date back no farther than about the time of the Eevolu- 
tion. In New England the primitive stock is believed to have 
undergone considerable improvement, while in parts of the 
Middle and Southern States it has undoubtedly deteriorated. 

II.— BEEEDS. 

A strict classification of the numerous breeds of cattle new 
existing in the United States would be difficult. Youatt 
arranges British cattle under three heads, according to the com- 
parative size of their horns — the Long Horns, the Short Horns, 
and the Middle Horns. These classes are all represented here. 
The prevailing stock of the Eastern States is believed to be 
derived from the Middle Horns or North Devons, most of the 
excellent marks and qualities of which they possess. They 
have frequently been called the American Devons, and are 
highly esteemed. The most valuable working oxen are of this 
breed, which also contributes largely to the best displays of 
beef found in the markets of New York, Philadelphia, and Bos- 



Cattle 



51 



ton. The Long Horns or Craven cattle, although not numer- 
ous, are occasionally met with. The Short Horns are of more 
recent introduction, but this breed, with various crosses, is now 
perhaps the predominant one of the country. 

It will be profitable to speak somewhat in detail, although 
briefly, of the several breeds — at least the more prominent ones 
— and we will begin with 

Fig. IT. 




A Devon Bull. 

1. The Devon Breed. — This is a handsome and valuable 
breed. The bull should have yellow horns ; clear, bright, and 
prominent eyes ; small, fiat, indented forehead ; a fine muzzle ; 
small cheek ; a clear yellow nose; a high and open nostril; a 
thick neck, with the hair about the head curled ; a straight 
back ; and be well set upon the legs. The head of the ox is 
smaller, otherwise he does not differ materially in shape from 



52 



Domestic Animals. 



the bull. He is quicker in Lis motions than any other ox, and 
is generally docile, good tempered, and honest. 

The cow is much smaller than the bull, but roomy for breed- 
ing, and distinguished for her clear, round eye and general beau- 
ty of features. With regard to the comparative value of the 
Devon cows for the dairy there is much difference of opinion, 
it being pretty generally asserted that their acknowledged 
grazing qualities render them unfit for the dairy, and that their 
milk is rich but deficient in quantity. Many superior judges, 
Fig. 18. 




A Dtsvon 



however, prefer them even for the dairy. Both cows and oxen 
fatten faster and with less food than most others.* In color 
Devon cattle are generally red. 

Our New England cattle, as we have said, are generally de- 
rived from this breed. Their horns are moderately long, 



* Touatt 



Cattle. 



53 



smooth, and slender, and their prevailing color deep red; hut 
sometimes they are dark hrown, hrindle, or nearly black. The 
oxen are remarkable for their docility, strength, and quickness, 
The cows are fair milkers. Both oxen and cows fatten readily. 
2. The Hereford Breed. — Cattle of the Hereford breed are 
larger than those of the North Devon. They are broad across 
the hind-quarters ; narrow at the sirloin ; neck and head well 
Fig. 19. 




The Hbebfoed Bull, Teokp. 

proportioned; horns of a medium size and turned up at the 
points ; color a deep red, with the face, throat, and belly gener- 
ally white. A spirited contest has been kept up for some time 
between the partisans of the Herefords and those of the Short 
Horns, both here and in England, each stoutly maintaining the 
superiority of their favorite breed. We are not disposed to 
take part in the controversy. The experience of persons not 



54 Domestic Animals. 

engaged in breeding either sort as a special business must finally 
settle it ; in the mean time, candid people will acknowledge that 
both are excellent, each in its way. 

Youatt says that the Herefords fatten to a much greater 
weight than the Devons, and that a Hereford cow will grow fat 
where a Devon would starve. They are very hardy, and will 
do well with only the same care required by our native breeds. 

3. The Sussex Breed. — The Sussex ox holds an intermediate 
place between the Devon and the Hereford ; with much of the 
activity of the first and the strength of the second, and the pro- 
pensity to fatten, and the beautiful fine-grained flesh of both. 
Experience has shown that it combines as many of the good 
qualities of both as can be combined in one frame. The Sus- 
sex cow does not answer for the dairy, her milk, although of 
good quality, is so small in quantity that she is little regarded 
for making butter and cheese. The prevailing color of the 
Sussex cattle is a deep chestnut red.* 

4. Ayrshire Breed. — The Ayrshire breed, which is considered 
the most valuable in Scotland, is of the small size and middle- 
horned race. In modern times it has been much improved. Mr. 
Aiton, in his Survey of Ayrshire, thus describes this fine breed : 

"The most approved shapes in the dairy breed are, small 
head, rather long and narrow at the muzzle ; eye small, but 
smart and lively; the horns small, clear, crooked, and their 
roots at considerable distance from each other ; neck long and 
slender, tapering toward the head, with no loose skin below ; 
shoulders thin ; fore-quarters light ; hind-quarters large ; back 
straight, broad behind ; the joints rather loose and open ; car- 
cass deep, and pelvis capacious and wide over the hips, with 
round, fleshy buttocks; tail long and small; legs small and 
short, with firm joints ; udder capacious, broad, and square, 
stretching forward, and neither fleshy, low hung, nor loose; 
the milk-veins are large and prominent ; teats short, all point- 
ing outward, and at considerable distance from each otherj 



Cattle. 55 

skin thin and loose ; hair soft and woolly ; the head, bones, 
horns, and all parts of least value, small ; and the general fig- 
ure compact and well proportioned." 

" The qualities of a cow," adds Mr. Aiton in another place, 
" are of great importance. Tameness and docility of temper 
greatly enhance the value of a milch cow. Some degree of 
hardiness, a sound constitution, health, and a moderate degree 
of spirits, are qualities to be wished for in a dairy oow, and 
what those of Ayrshire generally possess. The most valuable 
qualities which a dairy cow can possess are that she yields 
much milk, and that of an oily, butyraceous, and caseous na- 
ture ; and that after she has yielded very large quantities of 
milk for several years, she shall be as valuable for beef as any 
other breed of cows known ; her fat shall be much more mixed 
through the whole flesh, and she shall fatten faster than any 
other." 

There have been several importations of Ayrshires into the 
United States, but they have, up to the present time, failed to 
establish themselves in general favor. 

5. Welsh Cattle. — " The cattle of "Wales are principally of 
the Middle Horns, and stunted in their growth from the poverty 
of their pastures. Of these there are several varieties. The 
Pembrokeshire are chiefly black, with white horns ; are shorter 
legged than most other Welsh cattle ; are larger than those of 
Montgomery, and have round and deep carcasses ; have a lively 
look and good eyes ; though short and rough, not thick ; have 
not large bones, and possess, perhaps, as much as possible, the 
opposite qualities of being very fair milkers, with a propensity 
to fatten. The meat is equal to the Scotch. They will thrive, 
says Mr. Youatt, where others starve, and they rapidly outstrip 
most others when they have plenty of good past ure. The Pem- 
broke cow has been called the poor man's cow. The Pembroke 
ox is a speedy and an honest worker, and when taken from hard 
work fattens speedily. Many are brought to London, and rarely 
disappoint the butcher." 

6. Irish Cattle. — Of ib* T rish cattle there are two breeds — 



56 Domestic Animals. 

the Middle Horns and the Long Ilorns. The Middle Horns are 
the original Dreed. "They are," Mr. Youatt says, "small 
light, active, and wild ; the head commonly small ; the horns 
short but fine, rather upright, and frequently, after projecting 
forward, turning backward ; somewhat deficient in hind-quar- 
ters ; high-boned, and wide over the hips, yet the bone not 
commonly heavy ; the hair coarse and long, black or brindled, 
with white faces. Some are finer in the bone and in the neck, 
with a good eye and sharp muzzle, and great activity; are 
hardy, live upon very scanty fare, and fatten with great rapidity 
when removed to a better soil ; they are good milkers. The 
Kerry cows are excellent in this respect. These last, however, 
are wild and remarkable leapers. They live, however, upon 
very little food, and have often been denominated, like those of 
Pembroke, the poor man's cow." 

The other breed is of a larger size. It has much of the blood 
of the Lancashire or Craven breed, or true Long Horn. Tbeir 
horns first turn outward, then curve and turn inward. Of 
each of these kinds, an immense number of both lean and fat 
stock are annually exported to England. 

7. The Long Horns. — The Long Horns of England came 
originally from Craven, in Yorkshire, and derived their name 
from the length of their horns. 

" The improved breed of Leicestershire is said to have been 
formed by "Webster, of Cauley, near Coventry, in "Warwick- 
shire. Bakewell, of Dishley, in Leicestershire, afterward got 
the lead as a breeder, by selecting from the Cauley stock ; and 
the stocks of several other eminent breeders have been traced 
to the same source. 

"The Lancashire breed of long-horned cattle may be distin- 
guished from other cattle by the thickness and firm texture of 
their hides, the length and closeness of their hair, the large 
size of their hoofs, and their coarse, leathery, thick necks. 
They are likewise deeper in their fore-quarters, and lighter in 
their hind-quarters than most other breeds ; narrower in their 
shape, less in point of weight than the Short Horns, though 



Cattle. 



57 



better weighers in proportion to their size ; and though they 
give considerably less n ilk, it is said to yield more cream in 
proportion to its quantity. They are more varied in color 
than any other breed; but whatever the color may be, they 
have in general a white streak along their back, which the 
breeders term Jlnched, and mostly a white spot on the inside of 
the hough."* 

8. The Short Horn or Durham Breed. — Durham and York- 
Fig. 20. 




The Shokt-I 



Lokd Eeyholm 



shire, England, have for ages been celebrated for a breed of 
short-horned cattle possessing extraordinary value as milkers, 
"in which quality," the Rev. Henry Barry says, "taken as a 
breed, they have never been equaled. The cattle so distill 
guished were always, as now, very different from the improved 
race. They were generally of large size, thin skinned, sleek 
haired, bad handlers, rather delicate in constitution, coarse in 



Culley. 
3* 



58 Domestic Animals. 

the offal, and strikingly defective in the substance of girth is 
the fore-quarters. As milkers they were most excellent, but 
when put to fatten, as the foregoing description will indicate, 
were found slow feeders, producing an inferior quality of meat, 
not marbled or mixed as to fat and lean ; tbe latter sometimes 
of a very dark hue. Such, toe, are the unimproved Short 
Horns of the present day." 

The improved Short Horns are even more celebrated as 
feeders than as milkers, and in other respects differ widely from 
the original breed. 

" The colors of the improved Short Horns," Mr. Youatt says, 
" are red or white, or a mixture of both;" "no pure improved 
Short Horns,'''' he adds, "are found of any other color but 
those above named. That the matured Short Horns are an 
admirable grazier's breed of cattle is undoubted ; they are not, 
however, to be disregarded as milkers ; but they are inferior, 
from their fattening qualities, to many others as workers." 

Mr. Dickson, an eminent cattle breeder, thus eloquently de- 
scribes the Short Horn : 

" The external appearance of the short-horned breed is irre- 
sistibly attractive. The exquisitely symmetrical form of the 
body in every position, bedecked with a skin of the richest 
hues of red, and the richest white approaching to cream, or 
both colors, so arranged or commixed as to form a beautiful 
fleck or delicate roan, and possessed of the mellowest touch ; 
supported on clean, small limbs, showing, like those of the race- 
horse and the greyhound, the union of strength with fineness ; 
and ornamented with a small, lengthy, tapering head, neatly 
set on a broad, firm, deep neck, and furnished with a small 
muzzle, wide nostrils, prominent, mildly-beaming eyes, thin, 
large, biney ears set near the crown of the head and protected 
in front with semicircularly bent, white, or brownish colored 
short (hence the name), smooth, pointed horns ; all these parts 
combine to form a symmetrical harmony, which has never been 
surpassed in beauty and sweetness by any other species of the 
domesticated ox." 



Cattle. 59 

The graziers of Kentucky and other parts of the "West have 
heretofore shown the greatest preference for the Short Horns, 
but, in their case, they are found to he subject to one serious 
objection. It is this : while they take on fat so readily when 
well fed and become so heavy, they are unable to retain it 
during the long journeys to the Eastern markets, where they 
generally arrive iu too meager a condition to command the 
price of fat cattle. They require some breed which will be 
able to carry their fat along with them.* 

9. The Alderney or Jersey Breed. — This breed of cattle is 
from Normandy and the Isle of Jersey, and, although small and 
awkwardly shaped, are much esteemed on account of the rich- 
ness of their milk, of which, however, the quantity is small. 
English noblemen keep Alderney cows in their parks to fur- 
nish cream for their coffee. 

When dried, the Alderney cow fattens with a rapidity that 
would hardly be thought possible from her gaunt appearance. 
In color, the Alderney breed is light red, dun, or fawn colored. 

10. The Galloway Breed. — The Galloway breed of cattle is 
well known for various valuable qualities, and is easily distin- 
guished by the want of horns. The Galloways are broad across 
the back, with a very slight curve between the head and the 
quarters, and broad at the loins, the whole body having a fine 
round appearance. The head is of moderate size, the ears 
large and rough, the chest deep, and the legs short. The pre- 
vailing color is black. This breed is highly esteemed, as there 
is no other kind which arrives at maturity so soon ; and their 
flesh is of the finest quality. Their milk is very fine, but is 
not obtained La very large quantities. It is estimated that 
30,000 cf these cattle are annually sent out of Galloway. 

Another valuable breed of polled (or hornless) cows is bred 
in Angus, which much resemble, in appearance, those of Gallo- 
way ; they are, however, rather larger and longer in the leg, 
flatter sided, and with thinner shoulders.. 

* American Farmer's Encyclopedia, 



60 Domestic Animals. 

In Norfolk and Suffolk a hornless breed of cows prevails, 
which are almost all descended from the Galloways, " whose 
general form," Mr. Youatt says, "they retain, with some of, 
but not all, their excellences ; they have been enlarged, but not 
improved, by a better climate and soil. They are commonly 
of a red or black color, with a peculiar golden circle around 
the eye. They are taller than the Galloways, but thinner in 
the chine, flatter in the ribs, and longer in the legs; rather 
better milkers ; of greater weight when fattened, though not 
fattening so kindly, and the meat is not quite equal in quality.'' 

The Suffolk Dun cow, which is also of Galloway descent, is 
celebrated as a milker, and there is little doubt is not inferior 
to any other breed in the quantity of milk which she yields : 
this is from six to eight gallons per day. The butter produced, 
however, is not in proportion to the milk. It is calculated that 
a Suffolk cow produces annually about 1£ cwt. of butter. 

The Suffolk Duns derive the last part of their name from 
their usual pale yellow color. Many, however, are red, or red 
and white. They are invariably without horns, and small in 
size, seldom weighing over 700 lbs. when fattened.* 

11. The Cream-Pot Breed. — This is an American breed, and 
was originated by Colonel Jaques, of Ten Hills Farm, Somer- 
ville, Mass. It is a cross between the Short Horn and the na- 
tive breed of New England. Mr. Jaques gives the following 
account of the origin of this famous breed : 

" Hearing of cows that produce seventeen pounds of butter 
each per week, the inquiry arose, why not produce a breed of 
such cows that may be depended on ? This I attempted, and 
have accomplished. I have made from one of my Cream-Pot 
cow,s nine pounds of butter in three days on grass feed only. 

" The bull Ccelebs, an imported thorough-bred Durham, and 
Flora, a heifer of the same breed, and imported, and a native 
cow, whose pedigree is entirely unknown, comprise the ele- 
ments of the Cream-Pot breed of cattle. The native cow was 

* American Farmer's Encyclopedia. 



Cattle. 61 

bought in consequence of her superior quality as a milker, giv- 
ing eighteen quarts a day, and averaging about fifteen. In the 
month of April the cream of two days' milk produced two and 
three-fourths pounds of butter, made of two and one-sixteenth 
quarts of cream, and required but two minutes' churning. Thus 
much for the mother of the Cream-Pots. 

"I have bred my Cream-Pots with red or mahogany colored 
hair and teats, and gold-dust in the ears, yellow noses and skin, 
the latter silky and elastic to the touch, being like a fourteen- 
dollar cloth. My Cream-Pots are full in the body, chops deep 
in the flank, not quite as straight in the belly, nor as full in the 
twist, nor quite as thick in the thigh as the Durhams; but in 
other respects like them. They excel in affording a great 
quantity of rich cream, capable of being converted into butter 
in a short time, with little labor, and with a very small propor- 
tion of buttermilk, the cream producing more than eighty per 
cent, of butter. I have changed the cream to butter not unfre- 
quently in one minute, and it has been done in forty seconds." 

The late lamented Henry Colman, while Commissioner for 
the Agricultural Survey of Massachusetts, wrote as follows : 

" Mr. Jaques is entitled to great credit for his care and judi- 
cious selection in continuing and improving his stock. I have 
repeatedly seen the cream from his cows, and its yellowness 
and consistency are remarkable, and in company with several 
gentlemen of the Legislature, I saw a portion of it converted to 
butter with a spoon in one minute. The color of Mr. Jaques' 
stock is a deep red, a favorite color in New England ; they are 
well formed and thrifty on common feed ; and if they continue 
to display the extraordinary properties by which they are now 
so distinguished, they promise to prove the most valuable race 
of animals ever known among us for dairy purposes, and equal 
to any of which we have any information." 

III.-POINTS. 

"Were an ox of fine symmetry and high condition placed be- 
fore a person not a judge of livestock, his opinion of its 



Cattle. 63 

excellences would be derived from a very limited view, and 
consequently from only a few of its qualities. He could not 
possibly discover, without tuition, those properties which had 
chiefly conduced to produce the high condition in which he 
saw the ox. He would hardly believe that a judge can ascer- 
tain merely by the eye, from its general aspect, whether the ox 
were in good or bad health ; from the color of its skin whether 
it were of a pure or a cross breed ; from the expression of its 
countenance whether it were a quiet feeder ; and from the na- 
ture of its flesh whether it had arrived at maturity. The 
discoveries made by the hand of the judge might even stagger 
belief. He understands the "points" of cattle, and experience 
enables him to appreciate their individual and aggregate value. 
The " points" by which cattle are characterized may profit- 
ably be described in detail : 

1. The nose or muzzle in the Durhams or Short Horns should 
be of a rich cream color. In the Devon, Hereford, and Sussex it 
is preferred when a clear golden color. A brown or dark color 
indicates a cross. 

2. The forehead should be neither narrow nor very broad. 
The eye should be prominent, and the nostril between the eye 
and the muzzle thin, particularly in the Devons. 

3. The horns should be small, smooth, tapering, and sharp 
pointed, long or short, according to the breed, and of a white 
color Ihvoughout in some breeds, and tipped with black in 
others. The shape is less essential than the color. 

4. The neck should be of medium length, full at the sides, not 
too deep in the throat, and should come out from the shoulders 
nearly on a level with the chine. 

5. The top of the plate bones should not be too wide, but, 
rising on a level with the chine, should be well thrown back, 
bo that there may be no hollowness behind. 

6. The shoulder point should lay flat with the ribs, without 
any projection. 

7. The breast should be wide and open, projecting forward. 

8. The chine should lay straight and be well covered with flesh. 



64 Domestic Animals. 

9. The loin should be flat and wide ; almost as wide at the 
fore as the hinder part. 

10. The hip bones should be wide apart, coming upon a level 
with the chine to the setting of the tail. 

11. The lip of the rump should be tolerably wide, so that 
the tail may drop to a level between the two points ; and the 
tail should come out broad. 

12. The thigh should not be too full outside nor behind; 
but the inside or twist should be full. 

13. The tack should be flat and rather thin. 

14. The hind leg should be flat and thin ; the legs of medium 
length, and the hock rather turning out. 

15. The feet should not be too broad. 

16. The flank should be full and heavy when the animal is fat. 

17. The belly should not drop below the breast, but on a line 
with it. 

18. The shoulder should be rather flat, not projecting. 

19. The fore leg should also be flat and upright, but not fleshy. 

20. The round should not project, but be flat with the outside 
of the thigh. 

21. The jaws should be rather wide. 

22. The ribs should spring nearly horizontally from the chine 
and fomi a circle. 

23. The skin should be loose, floating, as it were, on a layer 
of soft fat, and covered with thick, glossy, soft hair. 

24. The expression of the eye and face should be calm and 
complacent. 

A writer in the Farmer's Magazine, a number of years ago, 
described what are properly considered the good points of a 
cow, as exhibited in the Short Horn breed, in the following 
doggerel lines : 

She's long in her face, she's fine in her horn ; 

She'll quickly get fat without cake or corn ; 

She's clean in her jaws, and full in her chine; 

She's heavy in flank, and wide in her loin; 

She's broad in her ribs, and long in her rump ; 

She's straight in her back, with never a hump ; 



Cattle. 05 

She's -wide in her hip, and calm in her eyes ; 
She's fine in her shoulders, and thin in her thighe 
She's light in her neck, and small in her tail ; 
She's wide in her breast, and good at the pail ; 
She's fine in her bone, and silky of skin ; 
She's a grazier's without, and a butcher's within. 

IV.— GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 

1. The Cow-house. — The cow-house should he a capacious, 
well-lighted, and well-ventilated huilding, in which the cows 
or oxen can be kept dry, clean, and moderately warm. It is a 
mistaken idea that cattle suffer materially by dry cold. It is 
the wet and the damp walls, yard, and driving rains and fogs 
of winter, that are so injurious to them. In this respect the 
Dutch farmers are very particular. They have their cows 
regularly groomed, and the walks behind them sprinkled with 
sand.* 

As a general thing, our farmers pay too little attention to 
the health and comfort of their cattle, and especially the cows. 
In many cases they are kept in a shamefully dirty condition. 
The floor of their stalls is allowed to be disgustingly filthy, the 
floors and walls full of vermin, and the hides of the animals 
covered with dust and dung. It is not only at the expense of 
their comfort that cattle suffer this neglect, but to the farmer's 
loss also. When you see a cow rubbing herself against a post, 
you may depend upon it that the animal is ill kept and requires 
a good scrubbing. Cattle, as well as horses, are greatly injured 
by want of proper attention to the cleanliness and ventilation 
of their habitation. They should stand on a slightly raised 
platform, which should be well littered with straw, refuse hay, 
leaves, sawdust, or some other dry material. 

For tying up cattle, chains, leather straps, wooden bows, 
and stanchions are used. The stanchions are the most conve- 
nient for the person having charge of the cattle, but, we think, 
less comfortable for the cattle themselves than the other con- 

* British Husbandry. 



66 Domestic Animals. 

trivances mentioned. A good and cheap stanchion is con- 
structed as follows : 

" The sills of the stanchions are of oak joist, six by two 
inches ; the top timbers are of hemlock, of the same dimen- 
sions ; the stanchions of ash, one and a half by four inches ; 
one of each set of stanchions is pinned between the sills and 
the corresponding top pieces. From the bottom of the sills to 
the top of the stanchions is five and a half feet. The slip stan- 
chions are of the same size and material as the first named, 
but only pinned at the bottom, which allows of their sliding 
back at the top about sixteen inches, to admit the animal's 
head ; it is then pushed to an upright position and fastened at 
the top by a drop-button or clapper, which is much more 
secure than when fastened by pins. 

"For oxen and large cows, there is allowed a space for each 
of three and a half feet ; for younger cattle about three feet to 
each. "We have frequently seen the sill and top piece for stan- 
chions made of solid timber, and mortices made for the stan- 
chions. But there is much labor required in morticing, espe- 
cially the top timber, so as to allow of the sliding back and for- 
ward of the slip stanchions. The kind we have attempted to de- 
scribe can be readily and cheaply made by almost any farmer."* 

2. Feeding. — While confined to the barn or cow-house and 
barn-yard, during the cold season, cattle should be fed with 
the utmost regularity ; and a sufficient quantity of nutritious 
food supplied to keep them in good condition. In this country, 
hay is the principal common food of our oxen and cows. Koots 
are too seldom employed in ordinary feeding ; and we have no 
doubt but that the health and, consequently, the condition and 
value of our cattle would be improved by giving them more 
turnips, beets, carrots, parsneps, etc., during the winter. 

An English writer says : " Supposing a cow to calve early in 
April or May, there is no keeping to be compared with a sweet 
pasture for affording the best flavored milk and butter ; therefore. 

* Country Gentleman. 



Cattle. 67 

althougn on a principle of economy I have always recommend- 
ed the house feeding of a cow (as one acre of good clover will 
support three cows during the summer, whereas an acre of pas- 
ture will but barely suffice for one during the same period, irre- 
spectively of the manure saved by the former management), I 
make a decided exception where there is no necessity for 
minutely regarding economy at the expense of the discomfort 
of the cow, and the inferiority in flavor, if not in quantity, of 
cream and butter. Yet, even with liberty, and the animal's 
enjoyment of picking her food as she pleases, there will be 
necessity in summer for some artificially grown grasses, to sup- 
ply any deficiency that may occur in the pasture, and provide 
for the house feeding, when the heat of the sun, the stinging 
of flies, or the bursting of a storm may render the shade and 
security of the cow-shed very grateful to your cows. In the 
early and cold spring, and before the grass has sufficiently 
sprung up, it is not any kindness to the cow, and it is a decided 
injury to the ground and vegetation to turn her out ; at that 
season she requires the warmth which her stall affords, and the 
nourishment that nutritious hay and roots and bran impart." 

The following hints from the pen of Henry Colman should 
be well heeded by every farmer. It is their own fault if Amer- 
ican agriculturists do not profit by such truthful warnings. 

" The farmers prejudice very greatly their own interest in 
suffering their milch cows to come out in the spring in low 
condition. During the time they are dry, they think it enough 
to give them the coarsest fodder, and that in limited quantities ; 
this, too, at a time of pregnancy, when they require the kind- 
est treatment and the most nourishing food. The calf itself 
under this treatment of the cow is small and feeble. He finds 
comparatively insufficient support from his exhausted dam; 
and the return which the cow makes in milk during the sum- 
mer is much less than it would be if she came into the spring 
in good health and flesh. It requires the whole summer to 
recover what she has lost. The animal constitution can not be 
trifled with in this way. 



68 Domestic Animals. 

"It is so with all livestock, and especially with young ani- 
mals, at the period of their most rapid growth. They should 
not be prematurely forced ; but, on the other hand, they should 
not be stinted or checked. 

" In the feeding of cattle for market a great deal of practical 
skill is required, and constant observation of their condition, 
otherwise they may be surfeited and their appetite destroyed, 
or their digestive powers be overtasked, and the feed fail of ite 
object. 

" The articles usually employed in fattening cattle are hay 
and Indian meal, or corn and rye meal mixed, or pease and 
oats, or oats and corn ground together. Besides this, many 
farmers are in the practice of giving their stall-fed cattle occa- 
sionally certain quantities of potatoes. An excellent farmer, 
of fifty years' experience in the fatting of cattle, is of opinion 
that potatoes are good feed for fatting cattle in the fall and 
spring, when the weather is warm; but they do no good in 
cold weather unless they are cooked. I rely much upon his 
judgment and experience. The value of potatoes is differently 
estimated by different individuals ; some considering five bush- 
els, others rating four bushels, as equivalent to one bushel of 
corn." 

An extensive cattle-dealer who has tried a variety of mix- 
tures of feed, such as oats, brown-corn seed, etc., prefers Indian 
meal to every other feed. He disapproves of excessive feed- 
ing, and thinks it a great error to give too much. He deems 
four quarts, with hay, ordinarily enough ; and ten quarts a day 
sufficient for any animal. He feeds twice a day with great 
regularity. His present cattle have never received over eight 
quarts per day each ; and at first putting up, a much less quan- 
tity. He deems it best to reduce their feed of provender a few 
days before starting for market. He buys his cattle for feeding 
in the fall ; and his present stock averaged in the cost seventy- 
five dollars per pair.* 

* American Farmer's Encyclopedia. 



Cattle. 69 

"It is sometimes asked," Mr. Oolman says, "whether oxen 
are injured in their growth from being worked. If their 
strength is prematurely and too severely taxed, or if they are 
subjected to severe usage, undoubtedly it must prove injurious ; 
but, if otherwise, if reasonably worked and carefully and kindly 
attended, tbere is no doubt that their health and growth are 
promoted by it. It is often matter of inquiry, whether fatting 
cattle should be kept in close stalls, or be suffered to lie out- 
doors. The experience of all the farmers whom I have consult- 
ed, who have made any trial, is conclusive in this case, in favor 
of the superior thrift of animals kept constantly in the barn, or 
turned out only for watering and immediately put up again, 
over those which are kept in open sheds, or tied up for feeding 
only, and at other times allowed to lie in the yard. No exact 
experiments have been made in this country in relation to this 
subject; but experiments made abroad lead to the conclusion, 
that cattle thrive best in a high and equable temperature, so 
warm as to keep them constantly in a state of active perspi- 
ration, and that their thrift is much hindered by an exposure 
to severe alternations of heat and cold. It is certain, that in 
order to thrift, cattle can not be made too comfortable ; their 
mangers should be kept clean ; their stalls be well littered ; 
and the cattle protected from currents of air blowing through 
crevices or holes in the floors or the sides of the stables, which 
prove often much more uncomfortable than an open exposure." 

3. Rearing Calves. — Many different opinions prevail on the 
subject of rearing calves. The following plan, detailed by a 
"Western breeder, we deem an excellent one: 

" I have my cows so managed that they come in early in 
spring. I wean the calves after they have drawn the milk 
two or three times, while I milk at the same time, all clean, 
that which the calf may not be strong enough to draw. Then 
I allow the calves nearly all the milk the cows give, for four 
or six weeks, which gives them a good start ; next, I teach 
them, when two or three weeks old, to eat some little of meal 
or threshed oats, and lick a little salt : at the same time I let 



70 Domestic Animals. 

them Lave access to some good hay; next, I reduce the quan- 
tity of new milk, and give them sweet milk minus the cream, 
and by degrees teach them to drink coppered milk, feeding ten 
or twelve together in a trough. This I consider better than 
milk which is just on a change from sweet to sour. As soon as 
practicable after there is a good bite of grass, I turn them into 
pasture, even with the cows, for they know not their dams. 
I still feed them with milk until about three months old, and 
all through the season if it can be had. In this wise calves are 
hearty, learn easy to eat anything which may be offered, and 
will winter better than calves which have drawn the milk from 
cows, and have received 'more knocks than nubbins.' They 
are also more gentle, easier turned to the yoke, or to milk, and 
are not afraid of their masters ; but, on the contrary, learn to 
know the hands that feed them. By giving them a good 
chance the first winter, they generally make good thrifty 
cattle." 

4. Milking. — In reference to milking, Martin Doyle says: 
" Cows in general are milked but twice a day, morning and 
evening ; but some of the Durham cows, particularly when in 
full season and abundantly fed, will require to be milked at 
noon also. In this case nothing is really gained in the quantity 
of milk, and its quality is weakened, as twelve hours are re- 
quired for the due chemical preparation of the milk. There- 
fore the tendency to this want of retention in a cow is not to 
be encouraged ; the milk should only be drawn off at supernu- 
merary times, if the udder be excessively distended, and the 
milk flows spontaneously. At each regular time of milking, 
the contents of the udder should be completely drawn off — the 
last drop is the richest : when there are two, three, or more 
cows, the dairy -maid, if she understands her business, will go 
with a separate vessel and milk the strippings into it until 
each udder is perfectly dry. This small portion of rich milk 
will give her more cream than a larger quantity, and she re- 
serves it, if she be a prudent person, for her own tea. 

"A cow should be handled with exceeding gentleness, other 



Cattle. 71 

wise milking may become an unpleasant or even a painful 
operation to her. If a cross-grained man or woman, "with a 
vinegar face, handles the teats roughly, and bullies a cow of 
sensitiveness, she may refuse to let her milk flow, though she 
would yield to the first touch of a good-tempered person. If 
the udder be hard, it will require fomentation with lukewarm 
water and gentle rubbing. It sometimes happens that the teats 
become sore ; in this case an application of sweet oil, after 
washing the affected part with soap and water, will probably 
cure it. 

" A cow may be milked until within a month of calving, 
provided the milk does not curdle on being slightly warmed, or 
possess a salt taste ; either would be an indication that no more 
milk should be taken." 

V.— WEIGHT OF LIVE CATTLE. 

Experienced drovers and butchers are in the habit, in buy- 
ing cattle, to estimate their weight on foot. Long experience 
and much practice enables them to judge with considerable 
accuracy. They thus have the advantage of the less experi- 
enced farmer, who, for this reason, very often comes off 
"second best" in a bargain. We recommend to them the 
following rule, by means of which the weight of cattle may be 
ascertained with a very close approach to the accuracy of the 



Rule. — Take a string, put it around the breast, stand square 
just behind the shoulder-blade, measure on a rule the feet and 
inches the animal is in circumference ; this is called the girth ; 
then, with the string, measure from the bone of the tail which 
plumbs the line with the hinder part of the buttock; direct 
the line along the back to the forepart of the shoulder-blade ; 
take the dimensions on the foot rule as before, which is the 
length ; and work the figures in the following manner : Girth 
of the animal, say 6 feet 4 inches, length 5 feet 3 inches, 
which multiplied together, makes 31 square superficial feet, 
and that multiplied by 23, the number of pounds allowed to 



72 Domestic Animals. 

each superficial foot of cattle measuring less than 7 and more 
than 5 feet in girth, makes 713 pounds. "When the animal 
measures less than 9 and more than 7 feet in girth, 31 is the 
number of pounds to each superficial foot. Again, suppose a 
pig or any small beast should measure 2 feet in girth and 2 
along the back, which multiplied together makes 4 square feet, 
that multiplied by 11, the number of pounds allowed to each 
square foot of cattle measuring less than 3 feet in girth, makes 
44 pounds. Again, suppose a calf, a sheep, etc., should meas- 
ure 4 feet 6 inches in girth, and 3 feet 9 inches in length, 
which multiplied together make 15i square feet; that multi- 
plied by 16, the number of pounds allowed to cattle measuring 
less than 5 feet and more than 3 in girth, makes 265 pounds. 
The dimensions of girth and length of horned cattle, sheep, 
calves, and hogs, may be exactly taken in this way, as it is all 
that is necessary for any computation, or any valuation of 
stock, and will answer exactly to the four quarters, sinking 
offal.* 

This rtile is so simple that any man with a bit of chalk can 
work it out, and its application will often save the farmer from 
.oases which mere guess work is liable to occasion. 

* Valley Fanner. 



Sheep. 



73 



IV. 



SHEEP. 



Thy flocka the verdant hillBide range— Anon. 




I.-CHAKACTERISTICS. 

HE sheep (Ovis aries) is naturally a denizen of 
the Mils. Its instincts, even in its domesti- 
cated state, attach it to the upland slopes ; and 
when free to do so, it always seeks the highest 
grounds, where aromatic plants abound and the 
herbage is less succulent than in the valleys. The wild sheep, 
like the deer, is found to frequent all those places where saline 
exudations abound and to lick the salt earth. In its wild 
state it generally has horns, but these have nearly disappeared 
in most of the domestic breeds. The female goes with young 
twenty-one weeks, and usually produces only one at a birth. 
Twins, however, are not uncommon. 

Immense flocks of sheep have been kept by man in all ages, 
but more generally for their wool and skins than for their flesh ; 
for that is by no means generally relished. The Oalmucks and 
Cossacks still prefer that of the horse and the camel, an<? the 
Spaniard, if he can procure other flesh, rarely eats that of the 
Merino. To a majority of Americans it is an object of dislike, 
although it is gaining in favor among us. Englishmen consume 
more mutton than any other people, but the taste for it is of 
modern origin with them. 

The natural age of the sheep, according to Touatt, is about 
ten years, up to which age they will breed and thrive well ; 
but there are instances of their breeding at the age of fifteen, 
and living twenty years. 



74 Domestic Animals. 

II.— breeds. 
Specimens of nearly or quite all the valuable breeds of sheep 
now known may, it is believed, be found in the United States. 
The principal of these are the Native (so called); the Spanish 
Merino ; the Saxon Merino ; the New Leicester or Bakewell ; 
the South-Down ; the Cotswold, the Cheviot, and the Lincoln. 
Between these breeds an almost infinite variety of crosses have 
taken place ; so that, comparatively speaking, few flocks in the 
United States preserve entire the distinctive characteristics of 
any one breed, or that can lay claim to purity of blood.* 

1. The Native Breed. — This name is applied to the common 
coarse-wooled sheep existing here previous to the importation 
of the improved breeds. They are, however, of foreign, and 
mostly of English origin, and probably are the result of the ad- 
mixture of various breeds. This common stock of sheep, as a 
distinct family, has nearly disappeared, having been univer- 
sally crossed, to a greater or less extent, with foreign breeds of 
later introduction ; and especially with the Spanish and Saxon 
Merinos. 

2. The Spanish Merino Breed. — Of this excellent breed there 
have been many importations from France and Spain. There 
are several varieties of the Merino, differing essentially in 
form, size, and quality of wool. American Merinos may be 
classed under three general heads, and are thus described : 

" The first is a large, short-legged, strong, and exceedingly 
hardy sheep, carrying a heavy fleece, ranging from medium to 
fine, somewhat inclined to throatiness, bred to exhibit external 
concrete gum in some flocks, but not commonly so. 

" The second general class of American Merinos are smaller 
than the preceding, less hardy ; wool, as a general thing, finer, 
and covered with a black, pitchy gum on its extremities. The 
fleece is about one third lighter than in the first class. 

" The third class, which have been bred mostly at the South, 
are still smaller and less hardy, and carry lighter and finer 

* Randall's Sheep Husbandry. 



Sheep. 



75 



fleeces, destitute of external gum. The sheep and the wool 
bear a close resemblace to the Saxon, and if not actually mixed 
with that blood, they have been formed into a similar variety 
by a similar course of breeding. 

" Class first are larger and stronger sheep than those orig- 
inally imported from Spain, and in well-selected flocks or indi- 
viduals the fleece is of a decidedly better quality."* 

The Merino, although a native of a warm climate, becomes 
readily inured to the greatest extremes of cold, flourishing even 
so far north as Sweden without degenerating in fleece or form. 

Fig. 22. 




The Spanish Merino. 

It is patient, docile, hardy, and long lived. Its flesh, in spite 
of the prejudice which exists on the subject, is short-grained, 
and of a good flavor when killed at a proper age. It is longer 
in coming to maturity than most other breeds, and does not 
attain its full growth till it is about three years old.t 



t Transactions of New York State Agricultural Society. 



76 Domestic Animals. 

3. The Saxon Merino Breed. — The Saxon Merinos are de- 
scended from the Spanish, having been imported from Spain 
into Saxony in 1765. They have been considerably modified 
by their German breeding, the German shepherds having 
sacrificed hardiness, and indeed almost everything else, to fine- 
ness of staple. 

There are very few flocks of pure Saxon sheep in the United 
States, the importations in several instances having been grade 
sheep, although sold as pure stock. Most flocks have again 
been crossed with Native or Spanish Merino sheep or with 
both ; but the mixed breed thus produced, which we may call 
the American Saxons, have so long been bred toward the Sax- 
ons, that their wool equals that of the pure breed. They are 
hardier than the parent German stock, but still comparatively 
tender, requiring regular supplies of good food, protection from 
storms of all kinds, and good shelter in winter. In docility, 
patience under confinement, late maturity, and longevity, they 
resemble the Spanish Merinos.* 

4. The New Leicester Breed. — This celebrated English breed 
comprehends the most excellent of the breed of Mr. Bakewell, 
their great improver, and of Mr. Culley's variety or improve- 
ment upon it. " The principal recommendations of this 
breed," Culley says, "are its beauty and its fullness of form; 
in the same apparent dimensions greater weight than any other 
sheep ; an early maturity and a propensity to fatten equaled by 
no other breed ; a diminution of the proportion of offal, and 
the return of the most money for the food consumed." 

"The wool of the New Leicester," according to Randall, "is 
long, averaging, after the first shearing, about six inches, and 
the fleece of the American animal weighs about six pounds. It 
is of a coarse quality, and is little used in the manufacture of 
cloths. As a combing wool, however, it stands first, and is 
used in the manufacture of the finest worsteds, etc." 

In England, the mutton of this breed is in great demand, and 



78 Domestic Animals. 

brings good prices. It is not generally considered a profitable 
breed in this country, except, perhaps, on rich lowland farms 
in the vicinity of considerable markets. 

5. The South-Down Breed. —The South-Down is an upland 
sheep of medium size, and its wool, in point of length, belongs 
to the medium class. There has been considerable controversy 
in reference to the value of the Downs in comparison with the 
other favorite breeds. Mr. Eandall does not rate them very 
high for wool-bearing. But they are cultivated in England 
more particularly for their mutton, which in the English mar- 
kets takes precedence of every other sort. 

"The Down is turned off at two years old, and its weight at 
that age in England is from eighty to a hundred pounds. Not- 
withstanding its weight, the Down has a patience of occa- 
sional short keep, and an endurance of hard stocking equal to 
any other sheep. It is hardy, healthy, quiet, and docile. It 
withstands our American winters well. A sheep possessing 
such qualities must of course be valuable in upland districts in 
the vicinity of markets."* 

Mr. J. 0. Taylor, of Holmdel, N". J., in a communication 
published in the Country Gentleman, says : 

"I contend that under a high state of management, the 
South-Downs are a very profitable sheep to keep, in proof of 
which (for I have the figures) I will cite my now yearling ram. 
Last July he was worth five dollars to sell for butchering, 
without anything more than good pasture ; he served several 
ewes from the middle of September to the first of December, 
which was much against his growth. At seven cents per 
week, from July to December, say $1 50 — cost of keep from 
December to May 2d, $5 41, making, with his worth in July, a 
total of $11 91. Had he been a wether I could have sold him 
on May 2d for $22 for butchering, leaving a clear gain of over 
$10 at from thirteen to fourteen months old ! I ask the stock- 
raiser and feeder if this is not as profitable as long wools, or 



80 Domestic Animals. 

any other stock ? Is it not more profitable ? But the Downs 
are a superior sheep for crossing with common ewes to pro- 
duce butcher's lambs, superior to any long wools. 

" A few years ago a Mr. Beers went to Canada and procured 
a large lot of the Canada Leicester, and many of our farmers 
were induced by their large size (with their wool on) to buy 
them. I expected to be driven out of the market with my 
South-Downs ; but at the first county fair (South-Downs hav- 
ing to show against long wool) I made a clean sweep of it, and 
there has never been one of them shown since. A certain 
farmer procured one of Mr. Beers' bucks, and also a South- 
Down ; he divided his flock of ewes as nearly as possible be- 
tween the two bucks ; the result was, the half-blood Down 
lambs were all fat, and sold before any of the half-blood Leices- 
ters were fit for market. This farmer finds the South-Downs 
so profitable that he keeps no other than a South-Down buck." 

6. The Cotswold Breed. — "The Cotswold," Spooner says, 
" is a large breed of sheep, with a long and abundant fleece, and 
the ewes are very prolific and good nurses. They have been 
extensively crossed with the Leicester sheep, by which their 
size and fleece have been somewhat diminished, but their car- 
casses considerably improved, and their maturity rendered 
earlier. The wool is strong, mellow, and of good color, al- 
though rather coarse, from six to eight inches in length, and 
from seven to eight pounds per fleece. The quality of the mut- 
ton is considered superior to the Leicester." 

"We believe the Cotswolds have not been extensively bred in 
the United States, although there have been several importa- 
tions. An improved variety of the Cotswolds, under the name 
of the New Oxfordshire sheep, have lately attracted consider- 
able attention, and have frequently been successful candidates 
for prizes offered for the best long-wooled sheep at agricultural 
shows. 

1. The Cheviot Breed. — The Cheviot sheep are a peculiar 
breed, which are kept on the extensive range of the Cheviot 
Hills. They are described as having " the face and legs gen- 



Sheep. 81 

erally white ; the eye lively and prominent ; the countenance 
open and pleasing ; the ear large, and with a long space from 
the ear to the eye ; the hody long ; and hence they are called 
'long sheep,' in distinction from the Mack-faced hreed. They 
are full behind the shoulder, have a long, straight back, are 
round in the rib, and well-proportioned in the quarters ; the 
legs clean and small-boned, and the pelt thin, but thickly cov- 
ered with fine, short wool ; they possess very considerable fat- 
tening qualities, and can endure much hardship, both from 
starvation and cold."* 

We have no acquaintance with this breed. There are prob- 
ably but few of them in this country. Mr. Eandall speaks very 
disparagingly of those which had fallen under his observation, 
but which may have not been fair specimens of their breed. 

8. The Lincoln Breed. — Oulley described the old breed of 
Lincolnshire sheep, half a century ago, as having " no horns, 
white faces, long, thin, and weak carcasses ; the ewes weighing 
from 14 to 20 lbs. per quarter, the three-year old wethers from 
20 to 30 lbs. ; thick, rough, white leg, large bones, thick pelts, 
and long wool, from 10 to 18 inches, and weighing from 8 to 
14 lbs. per fleece, and covering a slow-feeding, coarse-grained 
carcass of mutton." Culley, however, ran into the opposite 
extreme ; if the Lincolnshire farmers bred only for the wool, 
he regarded only the mutton. A cross between the two pro- 
duced a very profitable and much improved animal. 

III.— CHOICE OF BEEED. 

"In selecting a breed for any given locality," Mr. Eandall 
says, " we are to take into consideration, first, the feed and cli- 
mate, or the surrounding natural circumstances ; and second, 
the market facilities and demands. We should then make 
choice of that breed which, with the advantages posssessed, 
and under all the circumstances, will yield the greatest net 
value of marketable product. 

* American Farmer's Encyclopedia. 
4* 



82 Domestic Animals. 

"Rich lowland heibage, in a climate which allows it to re- 
main green during a large portion of the year, is favorable to 
the production of large carcasses. If convenient to markets 
where mutton finds a ready sale at good prices, then all the 
conditions are realized which call for a mutton as contradis- 
tinguished from a wool-producing sheep. Under such circum- 
stances, the choice should undoubtedly, in my judgment, rest 
between the improved English varieties — the South-Down, the 
New Leicester, and the improved Cotswold or New Oxford- 
shire. In deciding between these, minor and more specific 
circumstances are to be taken into account." 

For wool-growing purposes he thinks the Merino " possesses 
a marked and decided superiority over the best breeds and 
families of coarse- wooled sheep ;" and its inferiority as a mut- 
ton sheep, he thinks is not so great as is generally supposed. 

IV -GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 

The following hints are all condensed from Randall's excel- 
lent work on Sheep Husbandry, to which the reader who may 
desire further details is referred. 

1. Barns, Sheds, etc. — "Humanity and economy both dictate 
that sheep be provided with shelters to lie under nights, and 
to which they can resort at will. In our severe winter storms 
it is sometimes necessary, or at least by far the best, to feed 
under shelter for a day or two. It is not an uncommon cir- 
cumstance, in New York and New England, for snow to fall to 
the depth of twenty or thirty inches, within twenty-four or 
forty-eight hours, and then to be succeeded by a strong and in- 
tensely cold west or northwest wind of two or three days' con- 
tinuance,* which lifts the snow, blocking up the roads, and piling 
huge drifts to the leeward of fences, barns, etc. A flock without 
shelter will huddle closely together, turning their backs to the 
storm, constantly stepping and thus treading down the snow 
as it rises about them. Strong, close-coated sheep do not 

* These terrible wind-storms are of much longer continuance in many part* 
of New England. 



Sheep. 83 

eeem to suffer as much from the cold, for a period, as would 
be expected ; but it is next to impossible to feed them enough 
or half enough, under such circumstances, without an immense 
waste of bay — entirely impossible, without racks. The hay is 
whirled away in an instant by the wind ; and even if racks are 
used, the sheep leaving their huddle where they were kept 
warm and even moist by the melting of the snow in their wool, 
soon get chilled and are disposed to return to their huddle. 
Imperfectly filled with food, the supply of animal heat is low- 
ered, and at the end of the second or third day the feeble ones 
have sunk down hopelessly, the yearlings and oldish ones have 
received a shock which nothing but careful nursing will recover 
them from, and even the strongest have suffered an injurious 
loss in condition. 

" The simplest and cheapest kind of shed is formed by poles 
or rails, the upper ends resting on a strong horizontal pole sup- 
ported by crotched posts set in the ground. It may be ren- 
dered rain-proof by pea-haulm, straw, or pine boughs. 

" In a region where lumber is very cheap, planks or boards 
(of sufficient thickness not to spring downward, and thus open 
the roof), battened with slabs, may take the place of the poles 
and boughs ; and they would make a tighter and more durable 
roof. If the lower ends of the boards or poles are raised a 
couple of feet from the ground, by placing a log under them 
the shed will shelter more sheep. 

"These movable sheds may be connected with hay-barns, 
'hay-barracks,' stacks, or they may surround an inclosed space 
with a stack in the middle. In the latter case, however, the 
yard should be square, instead of round, on account of the 
divergence in the lower ends of the boards or poles, which the 
round form would render necessary." 

2. Feeding-Hades. — " When the ground is frozen, and espe- 
cially when covered with snow, the sheep eats hay better on 
the ground than anywhere else. When the land is soft, muddy, 
or foul with manure, they will scarcely touch hay placed on it. 
It should then be fed in racks. 



84 Domestic Animals. 

"These are of various forms. Fig. 25 gives the common 
box rack in the most general use in the North. It is ten feet 
long, two and a half wide, the lower hoards a foot wide, the 
upper ones about ten inches, the two about nine inches apart, 

Fig. 25. 




Box Back. 

and the corner posts tbree by three, or three and a half by two 
and a half inches. The boards are spiked on these posts by 
large flat-headed nails wrought for the purpose, and the lower 
edges of the upper boards and the upper edges of the lower 
ones are rounded so they shall not wear the wool off from the 
sheep's necks. The lower boards and the opening for the 
heads should be two or three inches narrower for lambs. If 
made of light wood, as they should be, a man standing in the 
inside and middle of one of these racks, can easily carry it 
about — an important desideratum. Unless over-fed, sheep 
waste very little hay in them." 

An improvement upon the common box rack has holes eight 
inches wide, nine inches high, and about eighteen inches apart, 
instead of the continuous opening represented in the foregoing 
cut ; but it is a little more expensive. 

3. Feeding. — "In Germany great stress is laid on variety 
m the winter fodder, and elaborate systems of feeding are 
given. Variations of dry fodder are well enough, but hundreds 
and thousands of Northern flocks receive nothing but ordinary 
hay, consisting mainly of timothy (Phleum prateme), some red 
and white clover (Tr (folium pratense et repens), and frequently 
a sprinkling of June or spear-grass (Poa pratensis), duriug the 
entire winter. Others receive an occasional fodder of corn- 
stalks and straw, and some farmers give a daily feed of grain 



Sheep. 85 

through the winter. "Where hay is the principal feed, it may 
be well, where it is convenient, to give corn-stalks (or 'blades') 
every fifth or sixth feed, or even once a day ; or the daily feed, 
not of hay, might alternate between blades, pea-straw, straw 
of the cereal grains, etc. Should any other fodder besides hay 
be the principal one, as, for example, corn-blades or pea- 
haulm, each of the other fodders might be alternated in the 
same way. It is mainly, in my judgment, a question of conve- 
nience with the flock-master, provided a proper supply of pal- 
atable nutriment within a proper compass is given. Hay, 
clover, properly cured pea-haulm, and corn-blades are palatable 
to the sheep, and each contain the necessary supply of nutri- 
ment in the quantity which the sheep can readily take into its 
stomach. Consequently, from either of these, the sheep can 
derive its entire subsistence. Sheep should not run or be fed 
in yards with any other stock. 

" The expediency of feeding grain to store sheep in the win- 
ter depends upon circumstances. Remote from markets, it is 
generally fed by the holders of large flocks. Oats are com- 
monly preferred, and they are fed at the rate of a gill a head 
per day. Some feed half the same amount of (yellow) corn. 
Fewer sheep — particularly lambs, yearlings, and crones — get 
thin and perish, where they receive a daily feed of grain ; they 
consume less hay, and their fleeces are increased in weight. 
On the whole, therefore, it is considered good economy. 
Where no grain is fed, three daily feeds of hay are given. It is 
a common and very good practice to feed greenish cut oats in 
the bundle, at noon, and give but two feeds of hay— one at 
morning and one at night. A few feed greenish cut peas in the 
same way. In warm, thawing weather, when sheep get to the 
ground, and refuse dry hay, a little grain assists materially in 
keeping up their strength and condition. This may furnish a 
useful hint for many parts of the South. When the feed is 
shortest in winter, in the South, there are many localities 
where sheep would get enough grass to take off their appetite 
for dry hay, but not quite enough to keep them in prrme con- 



86 Domestic Animals. 

dition. A moderate daily feed of oats or peas, placed in the 
depository racks, would keep them strong, in good plight for 
the lambing season, and increase their weight of wool. 

"Euta-bagas, Irish potatoes, etc., make a good substitute for 
grain, as an extra feed for grown sheep. I prefer the ruta- 
baga to the potato in equivalents of nutriment. I do not con- 
sider either of them, or any other root, as good for lambs and 
yearlings as an equivalent in grain. Sheep may be taught to 
eat nearly all the cultivated roots ; this is done by withholding 
salt from them, and then feeding the chopped root a few times 
rubbed with just sufficient salt to induce them to eat the root 
to obtain it, but not enough to satisfy their appetite for salt 
before they have acquired a taste for the roots. 

" If there is one rule which may be considered more impera- 
tive than any other in sheep husbandry, it is that the utmost 
regularity be preserved in feeding. First, there should be reg- 
ularity as to the times of feeding. However abundantly pro- 
vided for, when a flock are foddered sometimes at one hour 
and sometimes at another — sometimes three times a day and 
sometimes twice — some days grain and some days none — they 
can not be made to thrive. They will do far better on inferior 
keep, if fed with strict regularity. In a climate where they 
require hay three times a day, the best times for feeding are 
about sunrise in the morning, at noon, and an hour before dark 
at night. Unlike cattle and horses, sheep do not eat well in 
the dark, and therefore they should have time to consume their 
food before night sets in. Noon is the common time for feed- 
ing grain or roots, and is the best time if but two fodderings of 
hay be given. If the sheep receive hay three times, it is not a 
matter of much consequence with which feeding the grain is 
giveD, only that the practice be uniform. 

" It is also highly essential that there be regularity preserved 
in the amount fed. The consumption of hay will, it is true, 
depend much upon the weather. The keener tbe cold, the 
more sheep will eat. In the South, much would also depend 
upon the amount of grass obtained. In many places a light, 



Sheep. 87 

daily foddering would suffice — in others, a light foddering 
placed in the depository racks once in two days would answer 
the purpose. In the steady cold weather of the North, the 
shepherd readily learns to determine about how much hay will 
be consumed before the next foddering time ; and this is the 
amount which should, as near as may be, be regularly fed. In 
feeding grain or roots there is no difficulty in preserving entire 
regularity, and it is vastly more important than in feeding hay. 
Of the latter a sheep will not over-eat and surfeit itself; of the 
former it will. And if not fed grain to the point of surfeiting, 
but still over-plenteously, it will expect a like amount at the 
next feeding, and failing to receive it will pine for it and manifest 
uneasiness. The effect of such irregularity on the stomach and 
system of any animal is bad, and the sheep suffers more from 
it than any other animal. I would much rather that my flock 
receive no grain at all than that they should receive it without 
regard to regularity in the amount. The shepherd should be re- 
quired to measure out the grain to sheep in all instances — instead 
of guessing it out — and to measure it to each separate flock. 

" In the North the grass often gets very short by the 10th or 
15th of November, and it has lost much of its nutritiousness 
from repeated freezing and thawing. At this time, though no 
snow has yet fallen, it is best to give the sheep a light, daily 
foddering of bright hay, or a few oats in the bundle. Given 
thus for the ten or twelve days which precede the covering of 
the ground by snow, fodder pays for itself as well as at any 
other time during the year." 

4. Salt. — " Salt, in my judgment, is indispensable to the health 
of sheep, particularly in the summer ; and I know not a flock- 
master among the hundreds, nay, thousands with whom I am 
acquainted, who differs with me in this opinion. It is common 
to give it once a week while the sheep are at grass. 

"It is still better to give them free access to salt at all times 
by keeping it in a covered box, open on one side." 

5. Water. — "Water is not indispensable in the summer pas- 
tures, the dews and the succulence of the feed answering as a 



88 Domestic Animals. 

substitute. But my impression is decided that free access to 
water is advantageous to sheep, particularly to those having 
lambs ; and I should consider it a matter of importance, on a 
sheep farm, to arrange the pastures, if practicable, so as to 
bring water into each of them." 

6. Shade. — " No one who has observed with what eagerness 
sheep seek shade in hot weather, and how they pant and 
apparently suffer when a hot sun is pouring down on their 
nearly naked bodies, will doubt that, both as a matter of hu- 
manity and utility, they should be provided, during the hot 
summer months, with a better shelter than that afforded by a 
common rail fence. Forest trees are the most natural and best 
shades, and it is as contrary to utility as it is to good taste to 
strip them entirely from the sheep-walks. A strip of stone 
wall or close board fence on the south and west sides of the 
pasture will form a passable substitute for trees ; but in the 
absence of all these, and of buildings of any kind, a shade can 
be cheaply constructed of poles and brush, in the same manner 
as the sheds of the same materials for winter shelter already 
described." 

7. Lambs. — " Lambs are usually dropped in the North from 
the first to the fifteenth of May. In the South, they might 
safely come earlier. It is not expedient to have them dropped 
when the weather is cold and boisterous, as they require too 
much care ; but the sooner the better after the weather has 
become mild, and the herbage has started sufficiently to give 
the ewes that green food which is required to produce a plenti- 
ful secretion of milk. It is customary in the North to have 
fields of clover, or the earliest of grasses, reserved for the early 
spring feed of the breeding ewes ; and if these can be contigu- 
ous to their shelters, it is a great convenience — for the ewee 
should be confined in the latter, on cold and stormy nights, 
during the lambing season. 

"If warm and pleasant, and the nights are warmish, I prefer 
to have the lambing take place in the pastures. I think sheep 
are more disposed to own and take kindly to their lambs thus, 



Sheep. 89 

than in the confusion of a small inclosure. Unless particularly 
docile, sheep in a small inclosure crowd from one side to another 
when any one enters, running over young lambs, and pressing 
them severely, etc. Ewes get separated from their lambs, and 
then run violently round from one to another, jostling and 
knocking them about. Young and timid ewes get separated 
from their lambs, and frequently will neglect them for an hour 
or more before they will again approach them. If the weather 
is severely cold, the lamb, if it has never sucked, stands a 
chance to perish. Lambs, too, when just dropped, in a dirty 
inclosure, in their first efforts to rise, tumble about, and the 
membrane which adheres to them becomes smeared with dirt 
and dung — and the ewe refuses to lick them dry, which much 
increases the hazard of freezing. 

" Lambs should be weaned at four months old. It is better 
for them and much better for their dams. The lambs when 
taken away should be put for several days in a field distant 
from the ewes, that they may not hear each other's bleatings. 
The lambs when in hearing of their dams continue restless 
much longer, and they make constant and frequently successful 
efforts to crawl through the fences which separate them. One 
or two tame old ewes are turned into the field with them, to 
teach them to come at the call, find salt when thrown to them, 
and eat grain, etc., out of troughs when winter approaches. 

"The lambs when weaned should be put on the freshest and 
tenderest feed. I have usually reserved for mine the grass and 
clover sown, the preceding spring, on the grain fields which 
were seeded down. 

" The dams, on the contrary, should be put for a fortnight on 
short, dry feed, to stop the flow of milk. They should be looked 
to once or twice, and should the bags of any be found much 
distended, the milk should be drawn and the bag washed for a 
little time in cold water. But on short feed they rarely give 
much trouble in this particular. When properly dried off they 
ehould be put on good feed to recruit, and get in condition for 
winter." 



90 Domestic Animals. 

8. Emasculation and Docking. — " These should usually pre- 
cede washing, as at that period the oldest lamhs will be about 
a month old, and it is safer to perform the operations when 
they are a couple of weeks younger. Dry, pleasant weather 
should be selected. Castration is a simple and safe process, 
Let a man hold the lamb with its back pressed firmly against 
his breast and stomach, and all four legs gathered in front in 
his nands. Cut off the bottom of the pouch, free the testicle 
from the inclosing membrane, and then draw it steadily out, or 
clip the cord with a knife, if it does not snap off at a proper 
distance from the testicle. Some shepherds draw both testicles 
at once with their teeth. It is common to drop a little salt into 
the pouch. "Where the weather is very warm, some touch the 
end of the pouch (and that of the tail, after that is cut off) 
with an ointment, consisting of tar, lard, and turpentine. In 
ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, however, they will do just 
as well, here, without any application. 

" The tail should be cut off, say one and a half inches from the 
body, with a chisel on the head of a block, the skin being slid 
up toward the body with a finger and thumb, so that it will 
afterward cover the end of the stump. Severed with a knife, 
the end of the tail being grasped with one of the hands in the 
ordinary way, a naked stump is left which takes some time to 
heal. 

" It may occur to some unused to keeping sheep, that it is 
unnecessary to cut off the tail. If left on, it is apt to collect 
filth, and if the sheep purges, it becomes an intolerable nui- 
sance. 

9. Washing. — "This is usually done here about the first of 
June. The climate of the Southern States would admit of its 
being done earlier. The rule should be to wait until the water 
has acquired sufficient warmth for bathing, and until cold rains 
and storms, and cold nights are no longer to be expected. 

10. Shearing. — " It is difficult, if not impossible, to give intel- 
ligible practical instructions which would guide an entire nov- 
ice in skillfully shearing a sheep. Practice is requisite. The 



Sheep. 91 

following directions from the American Shepherd* are correct, 
and are as plain, perhaps, as they can he made : 

" ' The shearer may place the sheep on that part of the floor 
assigned to him, resting on its rump, and himself in a posture 
with one (his right) knee on a cushion, and the back of the animal 
resting against his left thigh. He grasps the shears about half- 
way from the point to the bow, resting his thumb along the 
blade, which affords him better command of the points. He 
may then commence cutting the wool at the brisket, and pro- 
ceeding downward, all upon the sides of the belly to the ex- 
tremity of the ribs, the external sides of both thighs to the 
edges of the flanks ; then back to the brisket, and thence up- 
ward, shearing the wool from the breast, front, and both sides 
of the neck — but not yet the back of it — and also the poll or 
fore-part, and top of the head. Now the "jacket is opened" of 
the sheep, and its position and that of the shearer is changed, by 
being turned flat upon its side, one knee of the shearer resting 
on the cushion, and the other gently pressing the fore-quarter 
of the animal, to prevent any struggling. He then resumes 
cutting upon the flank and rump, and thence onward to the 
head. Thus one side is complete. The sheep is then turned 
on to the other side, in doing which great care is requisite to 
prevent the fleece from being torn, and the shearer acts as upon 
the other, which finishes. He must then take his sheep near 
to the door through which it is to pass out, and neatly trim 
the legs, and leave not a solitary lock anywhere as a harbor 
for ticks. It is absolutely necessary for him to remove from 
his stand to trim, otherwise the useless stuff from the legs be- 
comes intermingled with the fleece wool. In the use of the 
shears, let the blades be laid as flat to the skin as possible, not 
lower the points too much, nor cut more than from one to two 
inches at a clip, frequently not so much, depending on the part 
and compactness of the wool.' 

" Cold storms sometimes destroy sheep, in this latitude, soon 

* Pages 179, 180. 



92 Domestic Animals. 

after shearing — particularly the delicate Saxons. I have known 
forty or fifty perish out of a single flock, from one night'a 
exposure. The remedy, or rather the preventive, is to house 
them, or in default of the necessary fixtures to effect this, to 
drive them into dense forests. I presume, however, this would 
be a calamity of rare occurrence in the ' sunny South.' "* 

V.— VALUE OF SHEEP TO THE FARMER. 

The following suggestive remarks are from the Country 
Gentleman, and are worthy of every reader's attention : 

" Sheep are profitable to the farmer, not only from the pro- 
duct of wool and mutton, but from the tendency which their 
keeping has to improve and enrich his land for all agricultural 
purposes. They do this : 

" 1. By the consumption of food refused by other animals in 
summer; turning waste vegetation to use, and giving rough 
and bushy pastures a smoother appearance, and in time erad- 
icating wild plants so that good grasses and white clover may 
take their place. In this respect sheep are of especial value to 
pastures on soils too steep or stony for the plow. In winter, 
the coarser parts of the hay, refused by horses and cows, are 
readily eaten by sheep, while other stock will generally eat 
most of that left by these animals. 

"For these reasons, among others, no grazing farm should be 
without at least a small flock of sheep, for it has been found 
that as large a number of cattle and horses can be kept with 
as without them, and without any injury to the farm for other 
purposes. A small flock, we said — perhaps half a dozen to 
each horse and. cow would be the proper proportion. A va- 



* Sheep Husbandry ; with an Account of the Different Breeds and General 
Directions in regard to Summer and Winter Management, Breeding, and 
Treatment of Diseases. With Portraits and other Engravings. By Henry S. 
Randall. New York : A. O. Moore. This work is bound with " Youatt on 
the Sheep," under the general title of " The Shepherd's Own Book," and th« 
volume should be in the hands of every one who would make sheep-breeding 
his principal business. 



Sheep. 93 

riety of circumstances would influence this point ; such as the 
character of the pasturage, and the proportion of the same 
fitted and desirable for tillage. 

" 2. Sheep enrich land by the manufacture of considerable 
quantities of excellent manure. A farmer of long experience 
in sheep husbandry, thought there was no manure so fertilizing 
as that of sheep, and (of which tbere is no doubt) that none 
dropped by the animal upon the land suffered so little by waste 
from exposure. A German agricultural writer has calculated 
that the droppings from one thousand sheep during a single 
night would manure an acre sufficiently for any crop. By using 
a portable fence, and moving the same from time to time, a 
farmer might manure a distant field with sheep at less expense 
than that of carting and spreading barn manure. 

" The value of sheep to the farmer is much enhanced by due 
attention to their wants. Large flocks kept together are sel- 
dom profitable, while small assorted flocks always pay well, if 
fed as they should be. To get good fleeces of wool, and large, 
healthy lambs from poor neglected sheep, is impossible. It is 
also true that the expense of keeping is often least with the 
flocks that are always kept in good condition. The eye and 
thought of the owner are far more necessary than large and 
irregular supplies of fodder. Division of the flock and shelter, 
with straw and a little grain, will bring them through to spring 
pastures in far better order than if kept together, with double 
rations of hay, one half of which is wasted by the stronger 
animals, while the weak of the flock pick up but a scanty liv- 
ing, and oftentimes fail to get that through the whole winter. 

" We commend this subject to the consideration of our corre- 
spondents ; it is one which needs greater attention on the part 
of the farming public." 

VI.— AFFECTION OF THE EWE. 

The Ettrick Shepherd tells the following story of the con- 
tinued affection of the ewe for her dead lamb : 

" One of the two years while I remained on the farm at "Wil- 



94 Domestic Animals. 

lenslee a severe blast of snow came on by nigbt, abont tbe lat- 
ter end of April, wbich destroyed several scores of our lambs, 
and as we had not enow of twins and odd lambs for the mothers 
that had lost theirs, of course we selected the best ewes and 
put lambs to them. As we were making the distribution, I 
requested of my master to spare me a lamb for a ewe which he 
knew, and which was standing over a dead lamb in the end ot 
the hope, about four miles from the house. He would not let 
me do it, but bid me let her stand over her lamb for a day or 
two, and perhaps a twin would be forthcoming. I did so, and 
faithfully she did stand to her charge. I visited her every morn- 
ing and evening for the first eight days, and never found her 
above two or three yards from the lamb ; and often as I went 
my rounds, she eyed me long ere I came near her, and kept 
stamping with her foot, and whistling through her nose, to 
frighten away the dog. He got a regular chase twice a day as I 
passed by ; but however excited and fierce a ewe may be, she 
never offers any resistance to mankind, being perfectly and 
meekly passive to them. 

" The weather grew fine and warm, and the dead lamb soon 
decayed ; but still this affectionate and desolate creature kept 
hanging over the poor remains with an attachment that seemed 
to be nourished by hopelessness. It often drew tears from my 
eyes to see her hanging with such fondness over a few bones, 
mixed with a small portion of wool. For the first fortnight 
she never quitted the spot ; and for another week she visited 
it every morning and evening, uttering a few kindly and heart- 
piercing bleats ; till at length every remnant of her offspring 
Tanished, mixing with the soil, or wafted away by the winds." 



Swine. 



SWINE. 




Where oft the swine, from amtrash warm and dry 
Bolt out and scamper headlong to their sty, 



I..-NATUKAL HISTOET. 
HE hog (Suidce sus of Linnaeus), according to 
Cuvier, belongs to "the class Mammalia, order 
Pachydermata, genus Suidm or sws." 

Professor Low remarks, that " the hog is sub- 
ject to remarkable changes of form and charac- 
ters, according to the situation in which he is placed. When 
these characters assume a certain degree of permanence, a 
breed or variety is formed ; and there is no one of the domes- 
tic animals which more easily receives the characters we de- 
sire to impress upon it. This arises from its rapid powers of 
increase, and the constancy with which the characters of the 
parents are reproduced in the progeny. 

There is no kind of livestock that can be so easily im- 
proved by the breeder and so quickly rendered suited to the 
purposes required ; and the same characters of external form 
indicate in the hog a disposition to arrive at early maturity of 
muscle and fat as in the ox and the sheep. The body is long in 
proportion to the limbs, or, in other words, the limbs are short 
a proportion to the body ; the extremities are free from coarse- 
ness; the cbest is broad and the trunk round. Possessing 
these characteristics, the hog never fails to arrive at early ma- 
turity, and with a smaller consumption of food than when he 
possesses a different conformation." 

The wild boar, which was undoubtedly the progenitor of all 
the European varieties, and also of the Chinese breed, was for- 



96 Domestic Animals. 

merly a native of the British Islands, and very common in the 
forests until the time of the civil wars in England. 

The wild hog is now spread over the temperate and warmer 
parts of the old continent and its adjacent islands. His color 
varies with age and climate, but is generally a dusky brown 
with black spots and streaks. His skin is covered with coarse 
hairs or bristles, intersected with soft wool, and with coarser 
and longer bristles upon the neck and spine, which he erects 
when in anger. He is a very bold and powerful creature, and 
becomes more fierce and indocile with age. From the form of 
his teeth he is chiefly herbivorous in his habits, and delights in 
roots, which his acute sense of smell and touch enables him to 
discover beneath the surface. He also feeds upon animal sub- 
stances, such as worms and larvae which he grubs up from the 
ground, the eggs of birds, small reptiles, the young of animals, 
and occasionally carrion ; he even attacks venomous snakes with 
impunity. 

The female produces a litter but ouce a year, and in much 
smaller numbers than when domesticated. She usually carries 
her young for four months or sixteen weeks. 

In a wild state the hog has been known to live more than 
thirty years ; but when domesticated he is usually slaughtered 
for bacon before he is two years old, and boars killed for brawn 
seldom reach to the age of five. When the wild hog is tamed, 
it undergoes the following among other changes in its conforma- 
tion. The ears become less movable, not being required to 
collect distant sounds. The formidable tusks of the male 
diminish, not being necessary for self-defense. The muscles of 
the neck become less developed, from not being so much exer- 
cised as in the natural state. The head becomes more inclined, 
the back and loins are lengthened, the body rendered more 
capacious, the limbs shorter and less muscular ; and anatomy 
proves that the stomach and intestinal canals have also becomo 
proportionately extended along with the form of the body. 
The habits and instincts of the animal change ; it becomes diur- 
nal in its habits, not choosing the night for its search of food ; 



Swine. 97 

more insatiate in its appetite, and the tendency to obesity 



The male forsaking its solitary habits, becomes gregarious, 
and tbe female produces her young more frequently, and in 
larger numbers. With its diminished strength and power of 
active motion, the animal also loses its desire for liberty. These 
changes of form, appetites, and habits, being communicated 
to its progeny, a new race of animals is produced, better 
suited to their altered condition. The wild hog, after it has 
been domesticated, does not appear to revert to its former state 
and habits ; at least the swine of South America, carried thith- 
er by the Spaniards, which have escaped to the woods, retain 
their gregarious habits, and have not become wild boars.* 

II.-OPINIONS RESPECTING THE HOG. 

From the various allusions to tbe hog in the writings of the 
ancient Greeks and Eomans, it is plain that its flesh was held 
in high esteem among those nations. The Eomans even made 
the breeding, rearing, and fattening pigs a study, which they 
designated as Porculatio. 

YarrO states that the Gauls produced the largest and finest 
swine's flesh that was brought into Italy ; and according to 
Strabo, in the reign of Augustus, they supplied Rome and 
nearly all Italy with gammons, hog-puddings, and sausages, 
This nation and the Spaniards appear to have kept immense 

droves of swine, but scarcely any other kind of livestock 

In fact, the hog was held in very high esteem by all the early 
nations of Europe ; and some of the ancients have even paid it 
divine honors.t 

On the other hand, swine's flesh has been held in utter abhor- 
rence by the Jews since the time of Moses, in whose laws they 
were forbidden to make use of it as food. The Egyptians also 
and the followers of Mohammed have religiously abstained from 
it. Paxton, in his " Elustrations of Scripture," says : 

* American Farmer's Encyclopedia. t Youatt. 

5 



98 Domestic Animals. 

" The Log was justly classed by the Jews among the vilest 
animals in the scale of animated nature ; and it can not be 
doubted that his keeper shared in the contempt and abhorrence 
which he had excited. The prodigal son in the parable bad 
spent his all in riotous living, and was ready to perish 
through want, before he submitted to the humiliating employ- 
ment of feeding swine." 

"Swine," Heroditus says, "are accounted such impure beasts 
by the Egyptians, that if a man touches one even by accident, 
he presently hastens to the river and, in all his clothes, plunges 
into the water. For this reason swine-herds alone of the 
Egyptians are not anowed to enter any of their temples; neither 
will any one give his daughter in marriage to one of that pro- 
fession, nor take a wife born of such parents, so that they are 
necessitated to intermarry among themselves." 

The Brahminical tribes of India share with the Jews, Moham- 
medans, and Egyptians this aversion to the hog. The modern 
Copts, descendants of the ancient Egyptians, rear no swine, and 
the Jews of the present day abstain from their flesh as of old. 

It was Cuvier's opinion that " in hot climates the flesh of 
swine is not good;" and Mr. Sonnini remarks that " in Egypt, 
Syria, and even the southern parts of Greece, this meat, though 
very white and delicate, is so far from being firm, and is so 
overcharged with fat, that it disagrees with the strongest 
stomachs. It is therefore considered unwholesome, and this 
will account for its proscription by the legislators and priests 
of the East. Such abstinence was doubtless indispensable to 
health under the burning suns of Arabia and Egypt." How 
is it under the burning suns of Carolina and Georgia ? 

III.— BREEDS. 

The various breeds which have been reared by crosses be- 
tween those procured from different countries aie so numerous, 
that to give anything like a detailed description of them would 
fill a large volume. We shall refer to only a ftnv of the more 
important of them. 



Swine. 99 

1. The Land Pike. — The old common breed of the country, 
sometimes called "land-pikes," may be described as "large, 
»ough, long-nosed, big-boned, thin-backed, slab-sided, long-leg- 

Fig. 26. 




The Land Pike 

ged, ravenous, ugly animals." Speaking of this race, A. B. Allen 
says: "No reasonable fence can stop them, but, ever restive 
and uneasy, they rove about seeking for plunder ; swilling 
grunting, rooting, pawing ; always in mischief and always de- 
stroying. The more a man possesses of such stock the worse 
he is off." But this breed is rapidly disappearing. Crosses 
between the land-pike and the Chinese or the Berkshire pro- 
ducing a fine animal, the original breed is being very generally 
improved. 

2. The Chinese Breed. — This breed was introduced into this 
country from China some forty years ago. The Chinese hog is 
small in limb, round in body, short in head, and very broad in 
cheek. When fattened, it looks quite out of proportion, the 
head appearing to be buried in the neck, so that only the tip of 
the nose is visible. It has an exceedingly thin skin and fine 
bristles. 

The pure-blooded Chinese hog has been bred to only a limited 
extent in the United States, on account of the smallness of its 
size (it seldom attaining more than two hundred and fifty 
pounds), and its lack of hardiness in a cold climate. In this 
last respect, however, it is well adapted fco the South. Crossed 



100 



Domestic Animals. 



with the native hog it forms an excellent breed, which we may 
call the improved China breed. Hogs of this mixed breed are 
various in color — black, white, spotted, and gray and white ; 
they are longer in body than the pure Chinese breed ; small in 
the head and legs ; broad in the back ; round in the body ; the 
hams well let down ; skin thin ; flesh delicate and finely flavor- 
ed. They are easy keepers ; small consumers ; quiet in dis- 
position ; not disposed to roam ; and when in condition may be 
kept so upon grass only. 

3. The Berkshire Breed. — This was one of the earliest im- 
proved of the English breeds, and is deemed by many the most 
excellent of all the varieties at present known. It is certainly 
the most widely distributed and most generally approved. It 
is a breed which is distinguished by being, in general, of a 
tawny white, or rufous-brown color, spotted with black or 
brown ; head well placed, large ears, generally standing forward, 
though sometimes hanging over the eyes; body thick, close, 
and well made ; legs short, small in the bone ; coat rough and 
curly, wearing the appearance of indicating both skin and flesh 
of a coarse quality. Such, however, is not the case, for they 

Fig. 27. 




Tub Berkshire Hog. 

have a disposition to fatten quickly : nothing can be finer than 
the bacon, and the animals attain to a very great size. 



Swine. 101 

The Berkshires, from which most of the present American 
stock has sprung, were imported in 1822. The breed has spread 
very rapidly over the country. 

Fig. 28. 




The Suffolk Hog. 

4. The Suffolk Breed. — The improved Suffolk breed originated 
in a cross between the original Suffolk hog and the Chinese. 
It is a very valuable breed, but much smaller in size than the 
Berkshire. Tbe Suffolks are thick through the shoulders, very 
handsomely proportioned in body, and possessing beautiful 
hams. Their color is either white or light flesh color, when 
of the pure breed, and they are indeed an ornament to the 
farm. 

It is said that they are less inclined to cutaneous diseases 
than numerous others, and do not, under any circumstances, 
produce that strong, musky flavored pork we sometimes find in 
market. They are not a gross, unwieldy animal, generally 
ranging from two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds 



102 



Domestic Animals. 



weight at twelve months of age, which latter weight they sel- 
dom exceed. They are clean feeders, and require much less 
than any other breed known. 

For large hogs, a cross between these and the Berkshire is 
very desirable, and is preferred by "Western breeders ; but for a 
small breeder, or for family use, the pure Suffolks are prefer- 
able.* 

5. The Essex Breed. — The Essex hogs are mostly black and 
white, the head and hinder parts being black and the back and 
belly white. The most esteemed Essex breeds, Youatt says, 
are entirely black, and are distinguished by having small teat- 
like appendages of the skin depending from the under part of 
the neck. They have smaller heads than the Berkshire hogs, 
and long, thin, upright ears ; short bristles ; a fine skin ; good 
hind quarters, and a deep, round carcass. They are also small 
boned, and their flesh is delicately flavored. They produce 
large litters, but are reputed bad nurse3. 

Fig. 29. 




The Esses Hog. 



6. The Chester Breed. — This breed originated in Chester 
County, Pennsylvania, and is not so widely known as, according 



Country Gentleman. 



Swine. 103 

to all X'^a'Ui'ja, it deserves to be. A correspondent of the Coun- 
try G-eiktlenGn gives the following account of the Chester hog : 

" The Chester hog is the result of continued careful breeding 
and judicious crossing in this county during the last thirty-five 
or forty years. The first impulse to this improvement, it is 
said, was the importation of a pair of handsome hogs from 
China, some forty years since, by a sea-captain then residing in 
this vicinity. Of late years, however, many of our breeders 
have been laboring to bring the Chester hog up to an acknowl- 
edged standard of excellence — to define its points, and make it 
as distinctive in character, and as easily recognized, as a Berk- 
shire or Suffolk. Their efforts, we think, have been successful. 

" The genuine Chester is a pure white, long body and square 
built, with small, fine bone, and will produce a greater weight 
of pork, for the amount of food consumed, than any other breed 
yet tried among us. A very important characteristic of the 
breed is, that it will readily fatten at any age. Many hogs, it 
is well known, will not fatten while they are growing, or until 
they have reached their full size. 

"The average weight of the Chester stock, at sixteen months 
old, is from 500 to 600 lbs., and when kept till two years old, 
they frequently run up to 700 and 800 lbs. Our spring pigs, 
when killed the following fall, weigh from 300 to 400 lbs., 
which is considered the most desirable weight for pork — pro- 
ducing hams of a more salable size and better quality. As a 
general rule, our farmers do not care to have their hogs weigh 
over 350 to 400 lbs. To reach this weight at nine months old, 
our hogs, of course, must be well fed. The Chester is not (lif- 
erent from other stock in this respect — to thrive well, it must 
be well taken care of. 

" Experiments have been made in crossing the Chester with 
other breeds — such as the Berkshire, Suffolk, etc., and the re» 
suit has been an inferior stock to the pure Chester. It does 
improve the Berkshires to cross them with the Chester, but 
we have found no advantage in crossing the Chester with any 
other." 



104 Domestic Animals, 

iv.-points. 

" There is evidently much diversity in swine in different 
circumstances and situations. Like other descriptions of stock, 
they should be selected with especial reference to the nature 
of the climate, the keep, and the circumstances of the manage- 
ment under which the farm is conducted. The chief points to 
be consulted in judging of the breeds of this animal are the 
form or shape of the ear, and the quality of the hair. The 
pendulous or lop ear, and coarse, harsh hair, are commonly 
asserted to indicate largeness of size and thickness of skin; 
while erect or prick ears show the size to be smaller, but the 
animals to be more quick in feeding. 

"In the selection of swine, the best formed are considered 
to be those which are not too long, but full in the head and 
cheek ; thick and rather short in the neck ; fine in the bone ; 
thick, plump, and compact in the carcass ; full in the quarters, 
fine and thin in the hide ; and of a good size according to the 
breed, with, above all, a kindly disposition to fatten well and 
expeditiously at an early age. Depth of carcass, lateral exten- 
sion, breadth of the loin and breast, proportionate length, mod- 
erate shortness of the legs, and substance of the gammons and 
fore-arms, are therefore absolute essentials. These are quali- 
ties to produce a favorable balance in the account of keep, aDd 
a mass of weight which will pull the scale down. In propor- 
tion, too, as the animal is capacious in the loin and breast, will 
be generally the vigor of his constitution ; his legs will be 
thence properly distended, and he will have a bold and firm 
footing on the ground."* 

V.— FEEDING. 

Have regular hours for feeding your hogs ; nothing is more 

important. Irregularity irritates the digestive organs, and 

prevents the system from receiving the full benefit of the meal 

when it does come. Do not give them too much food at once, 

* American Farmer's Encyclopedia. 



Swine. 105 

as they are apt to gorge themselves ; or, if any he left in the 
trough, to return to it frequently till it is all gone. In hoth 
cases their digestive organs, and consequently their ability to 
fatten, are impaired. 

Swine will eat animal food, hut it is not favorable to the 
flavor of their flesh, and should always be withheld while they 
are fattening. 

Pigs always eat more when first put up to fatten than they 
do afterward, therefore the most nutritious food should be re- 
served till they are getting pretty fat. 

In reference to fattening the hog, a writer in the Boston 
Cultivator remarks : 

" If circumstances are favorable, he is inclined to lay up such 
a supply of fat during antumn as would render it unnecessary 
for him to undergo much exercise or exposure during inclement 
weather. "With plenty of lard oil to keep his lamp burning, 
he would prefer dozing in a bed of leaves in the forest while 
the ground is covered with snow, rather than to grub daily for 
a living. He fattens most rapidly in such a state of the atmo- 
sphere as is most congenial to his comfort — neither too hot nor 
too cold; hence the months of September and October are 
best for making pork. The more agreeable the weather, the 
less is the amount of food required to supply the waste of life. 

" Against fattening hogs so early in the season, it may be 
objected that Indian corn, the crop chiefly depended on for the 
purpose, is not matured. Taking everything into considera- 
tion, it may be better to begin to feed corn before it is ripe, or 
even at the stage of considerable greenness. After the plant 
has blossomed it possesses a considerable degree of sweetness ; 
hogs will chew it, swallow the juice, and leave nothing but the 
dry fibrous matter, which they eject from their mouths when 
no more sweetness can be extracted. They thrive on this 
fodder, and will continue to eat it till the nutriment is concen- 
trated in the ear, and then they will eat the cob and grain 
together till the cob gets hard and dry. Farmers who have 
practiced this mode of feeding consider it more advantageous 
5* 



106 Domestic Animals. 

than to leave the whole crop to ripen, unless they have a sop- 
ply of old corn to feed with. Even in the latter case, it ig 
questionable whether hogs will not do better on corn some- 
what green than they would on hard corn, unground. True, 
it is not necessary that corn should be fed unground, but much 
is fed in this condition, no doubt at a loss. 

" In many parts of the country, swine are fed considerably 
on articles which are not readily marketable, as imperfect 
fruits, vegetables, etc. Where such articles are used, cooking 
them is generally economical. A mixture of squashes (eitber ■ 
summer or winter squashes), pumpkins — the nearer ripe the 
better — potatoes, beets, and apples, boiled or steamed, and a 
fourth or an eighth of their bulk of meal stirred in while the 
mass is hot, forms a dish on which hogs will fatten fast. If 
skimmed milk or whey can be had, the cooked food may be 
put with it into a suitable tub or vat, and a slight degree of 
fermentation allowed to take place before the whole is fed out. 
The animals will eat it with avidity, and probably derive more 
benefit from it than if it had not been fermented. Articles 
which are of a perishable nature should be used first in fatten- 
ing swine, in order to prevent waste and turn all the products 
of the farm to the best account. 

" Another quite important advantage of early feeding is the 
less trouble in regard to cooking the food and keeping it in 
proper condition to feed out. The cooking may be done out 
of doors, if convenience of feeding would be promoted by it, 
and there is no expense or trouble to guard the food against 
freezing." 

The manner of fattening hogs, where IndiaD corn is used, as 
at the South and West, is to put them up in large, open pens 
on the ground, without litter and without shelter. Here they 
are left to burrow and sleep in mud and mire, exposed to all 
weathers, consuming, probably, before they get "ripe fat," ono 
third if not half more than would be necessary were they shel- 
tered in a warm pen, with clean litter, clean water, and rich 
•food in abundance, free alike from exposure and excitement. 



Swine. 107 

An ample supply of good drinking water should be kept 
within the reach of every animal. 

VI.— THE PIGGEBY. 

In constructing a piggery, reference should be had to the 
comfort of the animals as well as to convenience in feeding 
them. It should be large, airy, and well- ventilated, and should 
have (at least in a large establishment) conveniences for cook- 
ing their food. It should by all means be comfortable and clean. 
It has been generally believed that the hog is naturally a filthy 
animal, delighting in mud and mire. This is certainly, in part 
at least, untrue. No animal more fully appreciates a clean, dry 
bed. To illustrate the value of cleanliness, a gentleman in 
Norfolk (England) put up six pigs of almost exactly the same 
weight, and all in equal health to fatten ; treated them all, 
except in one particular, exactly alike, giving equal quantities 
of the same food to each for seven weeks. Three of these pigs 
were left to shift for themselves, so far as cleanliness is con- 
cerned, while the other three were carefully curried, brushed, 
and washed. The latter consumed, during the seven weeks, 
less food by five bushels than the former, and yet, when killed, 
weighed more by thirty-two pounds ol. an average. [For a 
plan for a piggery, see "The House."] 




108 Domestic Animals. 



VI. 

IMPROVEMENT OF BREEDS. 

Like produces like. 

I.— SELECTION. 

ITH such examples before us as are furnished 
by the English Eace Horse, the Durham Cow, 
and the South-Down sheep, wbere shall we 
place limits to tbe improvability of our various 
domestic animals ? The ameliorations through 
which these improved breeds have been established were not 
accidental. They took place according to the fixed laws of 
animal life, brought to bear by the intelligence of man upon 
special points and for special objects. Other breeds even bet- 
ter than these may be produced by similar means. Bakewell, 
Culley, Seabright, Jaques, Knight, and other distinguished 
breeders and improvers of stock, have made use of no patented 
or secret process. What they have done, any intelligent farmer 
may do by the use of the same easily available means. To 
furnish a few hints in reference to these means is the purpose 
of this chapter. 

In setting about originating a new breed of any particular 
species of animal, the first grand point is the selection of sire 
and dam. This must be made with reference to the particular 
qualities to which you desire to give prominence, as well as to 
the general excellence of constitution, form, and disposition 
which should distinguish the species. Thus Colonel Jaques, 
in originating the Cream-Pot breed of cows, already referred 
to, had the dairy and not the butcher in view, and took his 
measures accordingly. The results of a continued selection of 



Improvement oe Bkeeds. 109 

breeders with reference to their qualities as milkers has been 
the establishment of a permanent breed distinguished probably 
above all others as dairy cows. So the sheep breeders of 
England, having the production of mutton as their principal 
object, have produced the New Leicester, the South-Down, and 
the New Oxfordshire breeds, distinguished for form, size, flavor, 
and fattening qualities ; while the Spanish and German breed- 
ers of Merinos, caring only for the wool, have given their breeds 
pre-eminently excellent fleeces. Breeding carefully for a few 
generations with a distinct purpose in view, will not fail to pro- 
duce astonishing and satisfactory results. 

"Tbe alteration," Sir John Seabright says, " which may be 
made in any breed of animals by selection can hardly be con- 
ceived by those that have not paid some attention to the sub- 
ject." 

To breed in the most successful manner, the male and female 
should be taken when they are in the highest state of health, 
and when all tbe powers and attributes wbich are wished for 
and which it is designed to propagate are in the most complete 
order and state of perfection. 

II.-IN-AND-IN BREEDING. 

It is a well-established fact in human physiology that the in- 
termarriage of near relatives tends to both physical and mental 
degeneracy. Analogy would lead us to infer that the same 
results must follow close breeding among the lower animals ; 
and facts, we think, prove conclusively that this is the case. 
Touatt, high authority on this subject, says : 

"Breeding in-and-in has many advantages to a certain ex- 
tent. It may be pursued until the excellent form and quality 
of the breed are developed and established. It was the source 
whence sprung the fine cattle and sheep of Bakewell, and the 
superior cattle of Colling ; but disadvantages attend breeding 
'in-and-in,' and to it must be traced the speedy degeneracy, 
the absolute disappearance, of the new Leicester cattle, and in 
the hands of many an agriculturist, the impairment of consti- 



110 Domestic Animals. 

tution and decreased value of the new Leicester sheep and 
the short-horned beasts. It has therefore become a kind of 
principle with the agriculturist to effect some change in his 
stock every second or third year; and that change is most 
conveniently effected by introducing a new bull or ram. These 
should be as nearly as possible of the same sort, coming from 
a similar pasturage and climate, but possessing no relationship, 
or at most a very distant one, to the stock to which he is in- 
troduced." These remarks apply to all descriptions of live- 
stock. In cattle, as well as in the human species, defects of 
organization and permanent derangements of function obtain, 
and are handed down when the relationship is close. 

III.— CBOSSING. 

It is by judicious crossing of breeds that some of our best 
varieties of domestic animals have been obtained. A cross 
between a superior and an inferior breed results in a progeny 
superior to the latter, and, for a particular use, climate, or 
locality, often better than the former. Thus the cross between 
the English thorough-bred horse and the inferior mare of the 
common breed of New England gave us the Morgan breed, 
which for all the common purposes for which a horse is used 
is superior to the thorough-bred animal himself. 

In breeding from stock with qualifications of different descrip- 
tions and in different degrees, the breeder will decide what are 
indispensable or desirable qualities, and will cross with animals 
with a view to establish them. His proceeding will be of the 
" give-and-take" kind. He will, if necessary, submit to the in- 
troduction of a trifling defect in order that he may profit by a 
great excellence ; and between excellences perhaps somewhat 
incompatible he will decide which is the greatest, and give it 
the preference. 

The following account of the way in which the new French 
breed of sheep, La Chamois, was originated, throws light upon 
an important principle in breeding; namely, that the influence 
of the male upon the offspring will be the stronger the purer 



Improvement of Breeds. Ill 

and more ancient in the first place his own race may be ; and 
in the next place, the less resistance is offered by the female 
through the possession of those qualities of purity and long 
descent which are so valuable in the sire. 

The French writer says : " With a view to the experiment 
proposed, it was necessary to procure English rams of the 
purest and most ancient race, and unite with them French 
ewes of the modern breeds, or rather of mixed blood forming 
no distinct breed at all. It is easier than one might have 
supposed to combine these conditions. On the one hand, I se- 
lected some of the finest rams of the New-Kent breed, regen- 
erated by Goord. On the other hand, we find in France 
many border countries lying between distinct breeds, in which 
districts it is easy to find flocks participating in the two neigh- 
boring races. Thus, on the borders of Berry and La Sologne 
one meets with flocks originally sprung from a mixture of the 
two distinct races that are established in those two provinces. 
Among these, then, I chose such animals as seemed least defect- 
ive, approaching, in fact, the nearest to, or rather departing 
the least from, the form which I wished ultimately to produce. 
These I united with animals of another mixed breed, picking 
out the best I could find on the borders of La Beauce and 
Touraine, which blended the Tourangelle and native Merino 
blood of those other two districts. From this mixture was ob- 
tained an offspring combining the four races of Berry, Sologne, 
Touraine, and Merino, without decided character, without 
fixity, with little intrinsic merit certainly, but possessing the 
advantage of being used to our climate and management, and 
bringing to bear on the new breed to be formed, an influence 
almost annihilated by the multiplicity of its component ele- 
ments. 

" Now what happens when such mixed-blood ewes are put 
to a pure New-Kent ram ? A lamb is obtained containing 
fifty hundredths of the purest and most ancient English blood, 
with twelve and a half hundredths of four different French 
races, which are individually lost in the preponderance of 



112 Domestic Animals. 

English blood, and disappear almost entirely, leaving the im- 
proving type in the ascendant. The influence, in fact, of this 
type was so decided and so predominant, that all the lambs 
produced strikingly resembled each other, and even Englishmen 
took them for animals of their own country. But what was 
still more decisive, when these young ewes and rams were put 
together they produced lambs closely resembling themselves, 
without any marked return to the features of the old French 
races from which the grandmother ewes were derived. Some 
slight traces only might perhaps be detected here and there by 
an experienced eye. Even these, however, soon disappeared, 
such animals as showed them being carefully weeded out of 
the breeding flock. This may certainly be called ' fixing a 
'breed,'' when it becomes every year more capable of repro- 
ducing itself with uniform and marked features." 

IV.-ADDITIONAL HINTS. 

Farmers, like men in other branches of business, have an eye 
on the profits of their industry ; and the more intelligent of 
them are now fully convinced of the fact, that with proper caro 
and protection the improved and finer breeds do give a greater 
product with the same amount of food than the inferior and 
coarser breeds. It costs but little if any more to keep a cow 
that will give a large quantity of rich milk than one that does 
not pay for her food ; strong, active horses are far more profit- 
able than poor, lazy ones ; a bushel of corn will make twice as 
much pork when fed to a Berkshire or a Suffolk as to a Land- 
Pike or Racer, and the best sheep will yield double the wool 
and bring triple the price of the poorer kinds. 

Now every farmer may, in a few years, make great improve- 
ment in his stock by selecting his best animals to breed from, 
with an occasional infusion of fresh blood from other flocks 
and herds (without reference to any of the celebrated improved 
breeds), combined with proper attention to their feeding and 
general management ; but unless he has a particular taste for 
breeding animals, and unusual facilities for the business, he will 



Improvement of Breeds. 113 

find it more convenient and cheaper to make an infusion of the 
improved Mood into his stock, choosing such as is best fitted 
for his purpose. A hull or a ram of one of the best breeds 
will soon, if judiciously managed, make a great change for the 
better in his stock. 

Another important fact must be borne in mind. " Improved 
breeds owe their present degree of perfection, whatever it may 
be, only to the skill which has been exercised in their selection, 
breeding, and management for a number of generations and a 
long series of years. This attention, we learn from the extract 
above, must be continued if we wish to retain the valuable 
qualities that it has placed within our reach ; and careful atten- 
tion to the selection, the wants, the comfort, and the health of 
one's stock is thus shown to be not only the dictate of economy 
for the time being, but a matter of importance in the future, 
from the influence it exerts on the progeny as well as on the 
parent. Improvements may be bred out as fast or faster than 
it can be bred in. Until the average of care which our farm 
stock now receives becomes much greater, it may be inexpedi- 
ent to advise the maintenance of a herd or flock of pure im- 
proved blood for ordinary farm purposes ; but, by beginning 
with grades — employing the services of an improved male to 
engraft upon "native" stock— and by degrees acquiring the 
habit of paying closer attention to their necessities and com- 
forts, not only will our cattle and sheep be gradually and fun- 
damentally bettered, but the farmer will be preparing to avail 
himself of breeds already rendered capable of giving, with 
proper attention, the greatest product for a specified amount of 
food ; and animals bred to this point will then come into his 
hands to be unproved, not to be deteriorated."* 

* Country Gentleman. 




114 Domestic Animals. 



VII. 
DISEASES AND THEIR CURE. 

Throw physic to the dogs.— Shakspeare. 

I.- HYGIENE. 

HEOW physic to the dogs," if yon will, but, 
he assured, they are quadrupeds of too much 
good sense to swallow it; and the other domes- 
tic animals will hardly take, except under com- 
pulsion, what their canine companions and pro- 
tectors thus reject. You will find less difficulty in forcing it 
down the throats of their more frequently diseased and oftener 
doctored masters. 

A large portion of almost every work on domestic animals 
is taken up with directions for the treatment of their diseases. 
Our limits do not permit us to dwell long on this point, nor do 
we deem it necessary. 

In their wild state, animals are ordinarily subject to few if 
any diseases. They live according to the laws of their being — 
live naturally and healthfully, and, unless they meet a violent 
death at the hands of man or of some of their natural enemies, 
die a natural death. Our domestic animals, as they are gener- 
ally managed, live under conditions less favorable to health, 
and sometimes, although with comparative infrequency, get sick. 
The fault is generally in the keeper or breeder, and not in thf 
animal or in the conditions inseparable from its domestic 
state. With animals, as with men, disease arises from some 
infringement of the organic laws ; but their masters, and not 
themselves, are responsible for the infringement. When they 
get sick, however, in consequence of the false conditions under 



Diseases and theik Cube. 115 

which they are forced to live, man adds insult to injury hy 
forcing his nauseous and poisonous drugs down their reluctant 
throats. If they recover in spite *?f both the disease and the 
remedy, drugs get the credit. 

"Well, let those use drugs who have faith in them, either in 
the treatment of themselves, their families, or their domestic 
animals; but the reader who looks in this little manual for 
directions for their use will be disappointed. We can not con- 
scientiously give them. 

Animals born of well developed and perfectly healthy parents 
(and none but perfectly healthy and well developed animals 
should ever be permitted to become breeders) may almost uni- 
versally ~be Tcept in perfect health. With a sufficient quantity of 
wholesome food, pure water, protection against storms and cold 
in winter, complete ventilation and perfect cleanliness in their 
habitations, and general attention to their comfort and health, 
there will be little call for medical treatment of any kind ; and 
in the rare cases which may occur, we would trust mainly to 
Nature, co-operating with her as we could by means of diet, air, 
exercise, and water, on the same principles precisely that are 
applied in the treatment of human beings without drugs. 

The Water-Oure or Hydropathic system has not yet been ex- 
tensively applied to animals; but so far as it has been adopted, 
it has produced the most satisfactory results ; and for the bene- 
fit of such of our readers as may have lost their faith in drugs, 
and desire to make a trial of a more rational method, we lay 
before them the following essay, kindly furnished for this work 
by that distinguished physician and writer, R. T. Trail, M.D., 
Principal of the Few York Hygeio-Therapeutic College. 

H.— WATER-CURE FOE DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 

BY K. T. TRALL, M.D. 

The habits of domestic animals being, on the whole, less 
unphysiological than those of human beings, their diseases are, 
as a necessary consequence, less numerous and less complicated. 
They may all be grouped under the head of fevers, inflam- 



116 Domestic Animals. 

mations, spasms or colics, fluxes, eruptions, and glandular 
affections. And for all of these disorders we are satisfied that 
proper attention to hygiene, as understood by the term Hy- 
dropathy or Water-Treatment, is as much superior to drug med- 
ication as it has proved to be in the case of human beings 
similarly affected. 

Fever is easily known by the languor and lassitude which 
the animal manifests, with great indisposition to exercise, fol- 
lowed by chills or shivering, and this succeeded by preternatu- 
ral heat on the surface, loss of appetite, furred tongue, frequent 
or hard or bounding pulse, etc. The animal should be placed 
in a clean, quiet, well-ventilated room, protected from currents 
of cold air in winter or the scorching rays of the sun in sum- 
mer, and the temperature should be kept at a uniform and 
moderate degree continually. 

When the skin becomes very hot, it should be washed or 
bathed all over, and a blanket or two immediately applied, so 
as to promote moderate perspiration. Or the wet sheet may 
be applied, taking care to cover it well with blankets, so as 
to arrest chilliness. When the sheet becomes quite warm, it 
should be removed, and the surface washed with cold water ; 
and if the fever heat continues, it may be re-applied for an hour 
at a time, two or three times a day, until the morbid heat is 
entirely subdued. 

The same general plan of treatment, with a slight modifi- 
cation, applies to all inflammatory complaints. With domestic 
animals as with human beings, the organs most liable to acute 
inflammation are the lungs and the bowels, and the only spe- 
cialty of treatment in these affections, in addition to the gen- 
eral plan applicable to the constitutional disturbance we call 
fever, is the continual application of wet cloths well covered 
with dry ones to the chest or bowels, as either is the seat of 
the inflammation, and the employment of copious enemas of 
tepid water to free the bowels. 

Spasmodic diseases of all kinds, and all the varieties of colic, 
are the results of local obstruction caused by over-exertion 



Diseases and theik Cube. 117 

over-heating, or something improper or indigestible in the food. 
Grain, and especially Indian meal, fed to a horse while in a 
state of great heat or great fatigue from violent exertion, is fre- 
quently the immediate cause of colic and spasms. In these cases 
the animal should have his abdomen fomented with wet cloths 
applied as warm as can be borne ; warm water should be given 
the animal to drink, or poured down his throat from a bottle, 
and copious enemas of warm water should be administered. 

Fluxes — as diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, influenza, catarrh, 
etc. — are the indications of a general obstruction of the system 
or impurity of the fluids, with an effort at depuration in a par- 
ticular direction. The usual practice of checking the discharge 
suddenly by pungents, stimulants, and astringents is always 
injurious and generally dangerous. On the contrary, the action 
of the surface should be restored by bathing, with friction or 
the dripping-sheet, and all irritating matters removed from the 
stomach and bowels by means of warm and tepid water, as in 
the case of colics. There will be no danger from the discharges 
if the cause is removed, and if it is not removed, the sudden 
suppression of the evacuations may terminate in a worse in- 
flammation or speedy death. 

Affections of the skin and glands are only to be cured by 
purifying the whole mass of blood. To repel an eruption from 
the surface, or rather a glandular tumor, is not curing the ani- 
mal ; indeed, it is only changing an external disease to an inter- 
nal one. Thus attention to a pure diet, to fresh air, and to 
clean apartments, each and all are essential to recovery. Many 
of these cachexies, as they are called in medical books, originate 
from the effluvia of their own excretions, as in cases where 
the urine and feces are permitted to accumulate in the stalls, 
or under the floors of the stables. 




118 Domestic Animals. 



VIII. 

POULTRY. 

Alas fowls were prepared for me.— Nehemiah v. 18. 

I.— THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 

OBODY knows when or by whom fowls were 
first domesticated. There are at most only two 
or three allusions to them in the Old Testa- 
ment, and these are of doubtful import. In 
our motto, for instance, the word fowls may 
mean simply birds. 

In the time of Aristotle, who wrote three hundred and fifty 
years before Christ, however, they were ovidently common ; 
for he speaks of them as familiarly as a naturalist of the pres- 
ent day. Everybody is familiar with the beautiful allusions to 
them in the New Testament. 

The wild origin of our domestic fowl is entirely unknown. 
The race, like that of the Dodo, is probably extinct. The "Wild 
Turkey will sooner or later share the same fate. 

Crested or top-knotted fowls appear to have been unknown 
to the ancients. The earliest notice of them occurs in Aldro- 
vandi, who speaks 01 a hen with "a crest like a lark." 

Domestic fowls now abound in all warm and temperate 
climates, but disappear as we approach the poles. They were 
found in abundance on the islands of the Pacific Ocean by their 
earliest discoverers. How they got there nobody knows. 
Probably in the same way that their human inhabitants found 
their insular homes. Ellis, in his "Polynesian Researches," 
says: "The traditions of the people state that fowls have 
existed on the islands (Tahiti) as long as the people ; that they 



Poultry. 119 

came with the first colonists by whom the islands were peo- 
pled ; or that they were made by Taarva at the same time 
that men were made." 

The courage of the cock is emblematic, his gallantry ad- 
mirable, his sense of discipline and subordination most exem- 
plary. See how a good game-cock of two or three years' ex- 
perience will, in five minutes, restore order into an uproarious 
poultry -yard ! He does not use harsh means of coercion when 
mild will suit the purpose. A look, a gesture, a deep chuck- 
ling growl, gives the hint that turbulence is no longer to be per- 
mitted ; and if these are not effectual, severer punishment is 

fearlessly administered His politeness to females is 

as marked as were Lord Chesterfield's attentions to old ladies, 
and much more unaffected. Nor does he merely act the agree- 
able dangler ; when occasion requires, he is also their brave 
defender, if he be good for anything. 

" The hen is deservedly the acknowledged pattern of mater- 
nal love. When her passion of philoprogenitiveness is disap- 
pointed by the failure or subtraction of her brood, she will 
either go on sitting till her natural powers fail, or will violent- 
ly kidnap the young of some other fowl and insist upon adopt- 
ing them."* 

The varieties of the domestic fowl are almost numberless, 
but only a few of them are worthy of more than a mere men- 
tion here. Among these we give the first place to — 

1. The Spanish Fowl. — The thorough-bred Spanish fowl is 
entirely black, so far as feathers are concerned, with a greenish 
metallic luster. The combs of both the male and the female 
are very large and of a brilliant scarlet ; that of the hen droops 
over on one side. Their most singular feature is a large white 
patch, or ear-lobe, on the cheek, which in some specimens ex- 
tends over a large part of the face. It is a fleshy substance, 
similar to the wattle, and is small in the hens but large and 
oonspicuous in the cocks, giving them a very striking appear- 

* Eev. Edmund Saul Dixon. 



120 



Domestic Animals. 



ance. There are few, if any, handsomer fowls than the genuine 
Spanish ; although some that are called by that name, but are 
really nameless mongrels, are ugly enough for scarecrows. 

The hens are great layers, being in this respect, we believe, 
superior to every other breed. Their eggs are very large, quite 
white, and of a peculiar shape, being quite thick at both ends, 
although tapering off a little at each. A correspondent of the 
Country Gentleman, relating his experience with them, says : 
" My last year's June pullets commenced to lay in December, 
and the first of February all of my Spanish hens laid more or 
less. I got, in the six months, from the first of March to the 
first of September, eighty -five dozen of eggs from seven pullets, 
and I now get from four to six eggs per day ; and my honest 

Fig. 30. 




The Spanish Fowl. 



conviction is, that the true Black Spanish hen will lay from 
'five to ten per cent.' more weight of eggs than any other 
breed." 



Poultry. 121 

On the other hand, it must be confessed that these Spanish 
dames are not good mothers or nurses, even when they do sit, 
"which," as Dixon remarks, "they will not often condescend 
to do," This last trait of character will prove a recommend- 
ation rather than otherwise with those who care for eggs 
rather than chickens. "When the latter are wanted, it is better 
to place the eggs under a hen of another and more motherly 
breed — a Dorking, for instance. 

The Spanish fowls bear confinement very well; are not 
large eaters ; grow rapidly ; mature early ; and are only excel- 
led for tbe table by the Game fowl and the Dorking. The aver- 
age weight of the mature birds is about six pounds for the male 
and five for the female. 

It is important, but somewhat difficult at present, to procure 
the true, unmixed, white-faced Black Spanish breed. 

There is another breed called the Gray or Speckled Spanish, 
but, however excellent they may be (and they are highly 
spoken of), they are probably a mixed breed. 

2. The Dorking Fowl. — The Dorking takes its name from 
a town in Surrey County, England, where it is supposed to 
have originated. 

The Dorkings are divided into the Colored and the White 
varieties ; the former including the Gray, Speckled, Spangled, 
Japanned, etc. These are not permanent varieties, however, 
as they can not be bred true to color. The Gray and Spangled 
comprise the more common forms in which the Colored Dork- 
ing family is presented to us. 

The "White Dorking is a smaller-framed bird than the Gray, 
and should be perfectly white in plumage, bill, and legs. They 
should have rose-combs. Tbey are less hardy than the colored 
variety, and not well adapted to a northern climate. 

The Dorking is a fowl of rare beauty, large in size, symmet- 
rical in form, and often gorgeous in plumage. Its flesh is 
white, firm, and of excellent flavor ; and for the general pur- 
poses of the table it is inferior to none, although, as regards 
flavor alone, the Game fowl would perbaps take precedence. 



122 



Domestic Animals. 



As layers, the Dorking hens take high rank, but are, we think, 
inferior to the Spanish. They are persistent sitters, and make 
excellent mothers and nurses. The editor of the American 
Fig. 81. 




The Dorking Fowl. 



Agriculturist says: "A little knowledge in keeping ttem 
[the Dorkings] justified us in pronouncing them entitled to the 
same rank among barn-yard fowls that the Short Horns have 
taken among cattle ; and years of experience in breeding them 
have confirmed us in this opinion." 

John Giles, a well known poultry breeder of Woodstock, 
Conn., expresses the following opinion : " After forty-odd 
years' experience with the gallinaceous tribes, I say that, in my 
humble opinion, no breed of fowls will compare with the true 
Dorking as good mothers, sitters, and layers, giving eggs in 
abundance, chickens easily reared, and which come to perfec- 
tion sooner than any other poultry. The flesh is of a delicate 
white, fine in the grain, and delicious flavor. The Black Span- 



Poultry. 



123 



Ish is only second to the true Dorking, in not raising their own 
young, seldom or ever wanting to sit ; but what they lose in 
that point is more than made up by the abundance of eggs 
By some they are called the everlasting layers ; eggs large ; 
flesh and skin beautifully white and juicy ; chickens grow rap 
idly." 

A cross between the Dorking and the Game fowl is greatly 
esteemed, and is thought to be more profitable than the thor- 
ough-bred Dorking. 

The possession of the fifth claw is generally considered as an 
essential characteristic of the Dorking, but it is not always 
present, and might and should be " bred out." The weight of 
the Dorking at maturity varies from five to eight pounds. 

3. The Polish Fowl. — The origin of this family of fowls is 
entirely unknown. They do not exist in Poland at the present 
time, and there is no evidence that they were ever known 
there ; but this is a matter of small moment. Their beauty 

Fig. 32. 




124 Domestic Animals. 

and excellence are undisputed. The large top-knot is one of 
the principal characteristics of the Polish fowl, and is conspic- 
uous in all its varieties. 

The varieties of the Polish or Poland fowl are numerous ; 
but the principal ones are the White-Crested Black, the Golden 
Spangled, and the Silver Spangled. 

In the "White-Crested Black Poland cock the plumage, with 
the exception of the crest, should be uniformly black, with rich 
metallic tints of green. The shorter crest feathers at the base 
of the bill are black, the rest of the purest white. The beak 
and legs are generally black. The same colors are required in 
the hen. Their form and bearing are remarkably good. The 
cock should weigh from five to five and a half pounds, and the 
hen about four pounds. 

The Golden Spangled and the Silver Spangled Polands are 
dplendid birds. " The beautiful regularity of their markings, 
the vivid contrasts in their colors, together with their unique 
appearance generally, entitle them to the first rank among the 
more ornamental varieties." 

The Polands, and especially the Black variety, are gener- 
ally but not invariably great layers, commencing early in the 
spring, and seldom wanting to sit till late in the summer, if 
at all. They can not always be depended upon to hatch a 
clutch of chickens, even when they manifest a desire to sit, fre- 
quently deserting the nest after five or six days' occupation.* 
They are not quite so hardy as some other breeds, but with a 
fair degree of attention are easily reared. As a table fowl, the 
Polish is among the best. 

4. The Hamburg Fowl. — Of the Hamburgs there are sev- 
eral varieties. The Silver Penciled, known also as the Bolton 
Gray, have the plumage white, with the exception of the wings 
and tail, which are furred with black. The average weight of 
the cock is about four and a half pounds. The hen usually 
weighs about a pound less. The Golden Penciled Hamburg 

* Wmgfield. 



Poultry. 125 

differs from the Silver Penciled chiefly in the ground color of 
its plumage, which is a yellowish buff or yellowish bay, and in 
being rather larger. The legs of both these varieties should be 
blue. The Silver Spangled and Golden Spangled differ from 
the Penciled sorts, in having black, circular, oval, or crescent- 
shaped spangles on the tail and wing, instead of bars. They 
are somewhat larger than the Penciled birds and have darke? 




The Siltee Spangled Hambtieg Fowl. 

legs. The Black Hamburg has a plumage of a uniformly rich, 
glossy-green black. 

All the Hamburgs are beautiful fowls, rich in plumage and 
fine in form ; great layers (the eggs, however, are small) ; sel- 
dom desire to sit ; and are good for the table, falling but little 
below the best varieties in this respect, although not so large 
as some others. 

•They are impatient of confinement, and to do well must have 



126 



Domestic Animals. 

Fig. 31. 



•t**t 




The Golden Spangled Hamburg Fowl. 

a wide range of grassy lawn or pasture. Of the different vari- 
eties we prefer the Golden Spangled, but others may choose 
differently. 
5. The Dominique Fowl. — This is a very common breed in 



Fig. 35. 




The Dominique Cock. 



Poultry. 127 

this country, but none the less valuable or beautiful on that^ 
account. 

" The prevailing and true color of the Dominique fowl is a 
lightish ground, barred crosswise, and softly sbaded with a 
slaty-blue, as indicated in tbe portrait of the cock figured on 
the previous page. The comb is variable, some being single, 
while others are double — most, however, are single. Tbe iris, 
bright orange ; feet, legs, and bill, bright yellow ; and some 
light flesh color. We prefer the yellow legs and bill, and con- 
sider them well worthy of promotion in the poultry -yard. 

"We seldom see bad hens of this variety; and take them 
'all-in-all,' we do not hesitate in pronouncing them one of tbe 
oest and most profitable fowls, being hardy, good layers, care- 
ful nurses, and affording excellent eggs, and the quality of their 
flesh highly esteemed. The hens are not large, but plump and 
full breasted. The eggs average about two ounces each, and 
are of porcelain whiteness."* 

6. The Leghorn Fowl. — The Leghorns are believed to be 
cousins of the Spanish, whom they resemble in general form. 
They have been considerably experimented with in this country, 
and are highly extolled by some breeders ; but the general ver- 
dict is that they are inferior to the Spanish.t 

7. The Shanghai Fowl. — The Shanghai fowl was originally 
brought from the northern part of China, particularly about 
the city of Shanghai, from which it takes its name. It is the 
common domestic fowl of that part of the country. 

The Shanghai cock is a large, bold, upright bird, strongly 
distinguished for the length, loudness, hoarseness, and awk- 
wardness of his half guttural crow. Most of the sub-varieties 



* Country Gentleman. 

t A correspondent of one of the agricultural papers, however, gives the fol- 
lowing testimony in their favor : " I have kept in different inclosures six of the 
most approved varieties of fowls, for four months (from the 1st of April to the 
present) — have registered the number of < ggs laid by each variety every day, 
and the Leghorns have laid almost three eggs to any other bird's one not ex- 
cepting the far famed Black Spanish."— E. W. Pearsall, Ilar'em, N Y 



128 



Domestic Animals. 



have large, single, serrated combs, the top running considerably 
beyond its point of attachment to the head. His neck is about 
nine inches long, and is somewhat arched ; wings short, round- 
ed outward, their shoulders concealed in the breast-feathers, 
and their tips covered by the body-feathers and the saddle- 
hackle. His breast is broad, but wanting in fullness; the 
thighs are wide apart, large, comparatively short, smooth in 




The Shanghai Fowl. 

some, in others heavily feathered quite down to the knees; 
shanks should be short, and, with the booted, more or less 
feathered down the outer edge, quite to the end of the outer 
toe; the stern is densely covered with long downy feathers, 
technically called "fluff," well rounded out; the hackle, both 
of neck and saddle, is long and abundant; while the tail is 
short and sometimes covered by the long saddle-feathers. Tin 



Poultry. 129 

weight of a full-grown bird is from ten to twelve pounds, 
while a few have weighed more. The hen agrees in general 
character with that of her liege lord, but is two or three pounds 
lighter. 

The legs of both sexes should be yellow, though we have 
seen some very fine white birds with a greenish-blue leg, and 
superior black ones with dark legs. ' 

The principal sub-varieties of the Shanghai family are the 
White, the Buff, the Cinnamon, the Partridge-colored, the Gray, 
or Brahmapootra of a few writers, the Dominique, and the 
Black. 

About ten years ago there raged among our fowl fanciers a 
most alarming Shanghai fever. It had its "run," and its vic- 
tims mostly survived. We presume they will never have a 
second attack. 

"We can not advise our readers to breed Shanghai fowls, and 
regret being obliged to mention them at all. 

8. The Cochin China Fowl, etc. — A missionary in China 
says : " There is no difference at all between the Shanghais 
and Cochin Chinas. In reality they all are Shanghais. Coch- 
in Chinese fowls are a small, inferior kind, not equal to the 
natives of the United States, and it is not believed that any 
have ever been taken to America ;" and the editors of the 
" Poultry Book," lately published in London, quote from a let- 
ter they received from Mr. Bobert Fortune, who has passed 
many years in various parts of China, as follows: "I firmly 
believe that what are called ' Cochin Chinas' and ' Shanghais' 
are one and the same. 

Whether this testimony should be considered conclusive or 
not we leave the reader to judge, and believing none of the un- 
couth, awkward, and coarse-grained Asiatic fowls desirable, we 
herewith dismiss them. 

9. The Bantam Fowl. — The Bantam is the smallest specimen 
of fowl and may with propriety be called the Tom Thumb of 
the gallinaceous tribe, and stands comparatively, in size, to the 
Malay and Cochin fowl as that of the noble and stately Dm* 

C* 



130 



Domestic Animals. 



ham to the diminutive Alderney cow. Though extremely 
small in size, the Bantam cock is elegantly formed, and remark- 
Fig. 37. 




White Bantam Cock and Hen. 

ahle for wis grotesque figure, his courteous and passionate 
temper, hib amusing pompousness of manner, his overweening 
assumption and arrogance ; and his propensity to make fight, 
and force every rival to "turn tail," has caused him many diffi- 
culties. 
The Bantam must be considered more as an object of curios- 
Fig. 38. 




Black Bantam Cock and Hen. 



ity than utility, and of course must expect to be received with 
no peculiar favor, in this country, except as a " pet." The.y 



Poultry. 



131 



arrive at n.aturity early, are faithful sitters, good mothers, and 
will lay more eggs,- though small, than any other variety. They 
are very domestic, often making their nests in the kitchen, de- 
positing their eggs in the cradle or cupboard of the dwelling 
when permitted.* 

The most beautiful of the Bantams is the Seahright, of which 
there are two sub-varieties — the Gold-laced and the Silver- 
laced. 

The ground color of the Gold-laced should be a clear, gold- 
en, yellow-white ; while in the Silver-laced it should be a pure 
silvery-white. The accompanying cut will give the reader a 
good idea of the form and bearing of these remarkable and 
beautiful fowls, as well as of the markings of their plumage. 

The Seabright Bantam is emphatically the English gentle- 
man's Bantam. Even lords and duchesses strive for the mas- 
tery in breeding this beautiful bird. This bird was first bred 

Fig. 39. 




The Seabright Bantam. 



and introduced to the notice of English fanciers by th« late Sir 
John Seabrip at, from whom they received their name.t 



t Country Gentleman. 



132 Domestic Animals. 

10. The Game Fowl. — The Game fowl is hardy, easily kept, 
and extra good for the table. The hens are fair layers, excel- 
lent sitters, exemplary mothers, and in every way well behaved 

Fig. 40. 




Gamb Cock and Hbn. 

fowls. The cocks have the reputation of being quarrelsome 
and tyrannical; but those who bave studied their character 
most closely are of the opinion that, on this ground, they have 
been unjustly condemned. They are brave and powerful, but 
not pugnacious or vindictive. Bement says : " For those who 
do not wish to give much attention to fowls, there is, accord- 
ing to our opinion, no breed equal to the Game." 

11. Mongrel Fowls. — The collections usually known under 
the name of Barn-door fowls or Dunghill fowls are merely rab- 
bles of mongrels, in which the results of accidental or injudi- 
cious crosses have become apparent in all sorts of ways. There 
is a tendency among them to revert back to some one of the 
original breeds, and good fowls for all common uses are often 
found among them. 

12. Choice of Breed. — We have mentioned the leading char- 
acteristics of the different kinds of fowls, in order to enable the 
reader to decide which is best adapted to his purpose. Were 
our advice asked in reference to the choice of a breed, we would 
recommend the Spanish where e^gs are to be made the prin- 



POULTET. 133 

cipal object, and the Gray Dorking where chiekens are wanted 
for the table or for market. In reference to merely ornamental 
poultry, let "fancy" rule. 

13. Accommodations. — No one should attempt to keep fowls 
without providing for them the proper accommodations to in- 
sure their comfort and health. These need not be expensive. 
A very simple house with appropriate accessories in the form 
of a yard, nests, feeding troughs, water basins or fountains, 
roosts, etc., can all be very cheaply furnished; or they may be 
more extensive, elaborate, and costly, if the proprietor's wants 
require and his means permit. For plans and descriptions of 
these structures we must refer the reader to "The House," 
which forms another number of this series of manuals. "We 
need only say here that they should be such as to secure 
warmth and efficient shelter from storms, without excluding 
light or air, both of which are essential to the well-being of 
fowls as well as human beings. 

"Most farmers," Mr. Bement truly says, " pay little or no at- 
tention to their fowls, suffering them to roam and run about 
when and where they please ; to lay and hatch where it suits 
them best, and to roost on trees, under sheds, on the wagon, 
cart, hay-rigging, etc. — soiling by their droppings plows, har- 
rows, or whatever may chance to be within reach. This treat- 
ment is no less unprofitable than inhuman. No wonder such 
farmers get no eggs during the winter, and generally come to 
the conclusion that poultry keeping does not 'pay.'" 

"Whatever may be the form or size of your poultry-house, it 
should be so constructed as to secure as equable a tempera- 
ture as possible. This end is best attained by having the 
walls and roof lined, leaving an open space of from four to six 
inches between the outer and inner walls, which may be filled 
in with chaff, saw-dust, or dry tan. This will make it warm 
in winter and cool in summer. In addition to the inclosed por- 
tion, the house should have a broad piazza or shed attached, 
to which the fowls may retire for shelter in stormy weather. 

Hens always seek to avoid observation when laying, and it ia 



134 Domestic Animals. 

well to gratify this natural feeling in the construction of their 
nests. A screen of lattice-work in front of the boxes, or a few 
evergreen boughs properly placed, will secure the required 
seclusion without preventing the circulating of the air. 

In reference to the poultry -yard Mr. Bement says : 

"Where it is intended to keep a large number of fowls, let 
the yard be of ample dimensions, which of course must be reg- 
ulated by the number intended to be kept. Those contracted 
seven-by-nine pens which meet our eyes throughout the country 
are not calculated to answer the purpose for which they were 
intended. Half an acre, at least, for every hundred fowls (and 
more than that number should never be kept in one flock), is 
little space enough for them to roam in ; and in order to unite 
all the advantages desirable in a poultry -yard, it is indispensa- 
ble that it neither be too cold during winter nor too hot during 
summer ; and it must be rendered so attractive to the hens as 
to prevent their laying in any chance place away from it. To 
shield them from the chilling blasts of winter and the scorch- 
ing rays of the sun in summer, we would recommend planting 
evergreens on the borders of the yard, and shade trees in the 
center. This, with a good covering of grass, would leave little 
to be desired on that part. And if the fowls can have access to 
a grass field occasionally, and the soil dry, then, so far as the 
ground and situation are concerned, nothing to be wished for 
remains. 

" A picket fence, from six to seven feet high, will be suffi- 
cient to prevent the fowls from flying over." 

14. Feeding. — The fowl is as omnivorous as a pig or a man, 
and perhaps a little more so ; nevertheless grain is their staple. 
Of this they ought to have a variety, as they do not thrive so 
well when fed constantly with one kind. Corn, wheat, barley, 
oats, and buckwheat make good feed for them. It is better to 
nave all kinds of grain, intended for feeding fowls, and espe- 
cially corn, coarsely ground or cracked. It will be found that 
they require a smaller quantity in this state. It should be 
scalded, or at least mixed to the consistency of a stiff battel 



Poultry. 135 

with water, before feeding it to them. Vegetables, such as 
potatoes, carrots, parsneps, beets, etc., boiled and mashed, are 
acceptable and wholesome. Lettuce, cabbage, Scotch kale, etc., 
chopped up fine, are excellent for all kinds of poultry in the 
winter. A few chopped onions may occasionally be added ; 
and also a little flesh-meat, either raw or cooked, cut into small 
pieces. 

The editor of the Country Gentleman thinks that it is better 
to feed poultry in winter from three to four times daily, than 
twice, which is the ordinary custom. By frequent feeding, the 
birds eat but a little at a time, and never injure themselves ; 
but when fed but once or twice daily, there is danger of theii 
overeating, which frequently produces fatal results. Our rule 
xs, to so regulate the quantity given at each time, that each 
fowl shall have all it wishes, and have nothing left. Our ex- 
perience confirms what many have said, that regular and fre- 
quent feeding is better for the health of the fowl, at any season 
of the year, than it is to fill a vessel with grain and allow them 
access to it at all times. We also think that poultry will eat 
less with frequent feeding than by twice feeding daily. 

Lime is necessary for the formation of egg-shells, and should 
always be accessible. The best form is that of calcined oyster 
shells, pounded in small fragments. A box of sand and gravel, 
and another of ashes, should be added. 

Pure water is another essential that can not be too strenuously 
insisted upon, impure water being a grand source of the dis- 
eases of poultry. 

Cleanliness must be strictly attended to in all your arrange- 
ments for fowls ; and the inside of the poultry-house should be 
whitewashed twice, at least, during the year, as a preventive 
against vermin. 

15. Incubation, and Rearing GhicTcens. — For sitting, choose 
good-sized hens. Those with short legs, broad body, and large 
wings are best adapted to the duty. It is also generally re- 
marked that the worst layers are the best sitters. All the 
©ggs for a brood, which should not exceed thirteen, should be 



136 Domestic Animals. 

bo nearly as possible of the same age. None of them should 
be more than ten days old ; and the reason why they should 
be of about the same date is, that they may be hatched simul- 
taneously. Select eggs of average size and ordinary shape. 
Give the hen a quiet place to sit, and take care that she be not ' 
disturbed. In twenty-one days (sometimes a day or two earlier 
in warm weather) a good sitter will bring out the chicks. The 
first day after hatching they do not want food and should be 
left in the nest. The next day they may be put into a good 
coop in a dry, sheltered situation, and fed with coarse corn- 
meal mixed up with water, hard-boiled eggs chopped fine, or 
fresh curd. Feed a little at a time and often, and beware of 
overfeeding. "When a little older, cracked corn, millet, wheat, 
barley, etc., may be fed to them. Have plenty of pure water 
in a shallow dish (so that they may drink without getting into 
it and wetting their feathers) always before them. After five 
or six days they may be allowed to range at will outside of the 
coop, but should not be allowed to come out while the dew is 
on the ground. When two or three weeks old, or, indeed, 
with the hardier breeds much earlier, the hen may be permit- 
ted to lead them out. The most important caution now is to 
guard them well against sudden unfavorable changes of tem- 
perature, and especially against cold rain-storms. 

16. The Poultry Pentalogue. — Somebody in England has 
written a little work which he calls the " Poultry Pentalogue," 
in which the whole art of fowl-breeding is summed up in five 
grand rules : 

1. Pure breed ; 

2. A constant infusion of fresh blood, and the careful avoid- 
ance of in-and-in breeding ; 

3. A varied diet ; 

4. Equable temperature ; and — 

5. Strict cleanliness. 

Good rules and easily remembered. We commend them to 
our readers, who may profitably apply them to other stock 
besides fowls. 



Poultry. 



137 



II.— THE GUINEA FOWL. 
"There is no doubt," "Wingfield says, "from the description 
given by Columella and Varro, that the Guinea fowl was 
reared on the fa* ms of the Romans, and that it was first made 
known to them during their wars in Africa." They have 
hardly found the favor among poultry keepers that their merits 
would warrant. They are prolific layers of excellent eggs, and 
as table birds are by no means to be despised. They are 
shy, and love to make their nests in dark, obscure places, far 

Fig. 41. 




The Guinea Fowl. 



from home ; for which reason their eggs are generally placed 
under a common hen to be hatched and fostered. They give 
no notice of laying or sitting. 

A brood of Guinea fowls is an excellent guard. They love 
roosting in the trees ; and at night, if any footstep disturb them, 
their loud cries are sure to give notice to the farmer that a 
trespass is committing. 

The Guinea fowl is delicate eating, and is in fine season about 



138 Domestic Animals. 

Lent. The young chickens must be treated in the same man- 
ner and with the same food as young turkeys, and they must 
be kept warm and dry. In fatting, they should be shut up in 
a house for a fortnight, and fed four or five times a day with 
sweet barley-meal, moistened with milk and good lard. They 
pine if confined any length of time. 

The great drawbacks to the rearing of Guinea fowls are the 
vigilance required to watch for their nest, and the harsh scream- 
ing of their cry. 

III.— THE DOMESTIC TURKEY. 

The domestic turkey is not so far removed from the wild 
state as the domestic fowl. There is no dispute about his ori- 
gin, the wild turkey not being yet extinct, and not differing so 
widely from the tenants of our barn-yards as to give room for 
doubt on that point. In fact, as it is stated in the "American 
Poulterer's Companion," if kept in the neighborhood of large 
forests they will often stroll thither, without any design to 
return, such is the natural wildness of their species. 

We have three varieties of the domestic turkey in this 
country — the Black, the Buff-colored, and the White. The 
Black is generally preferred, it being the most hardy. The 
Buff-colored is placed next in the order of merit. The White 
variety is very beautiful, but is smaller and less hardy. 

Turkeys are generally considered very difficult to rear ; and 
it is undoubtedly true that considerable care, patience, and skill 
are required to insuie uniform success. Mr. Bement says: 
"If attempts to rear turkeys have not been crowned with suc- 
cess, it is entirely owing to the unskillfulness and inexperience 
of those to whom they have been intrusted ; and so long as one 
persists in thwarting the females when sitting ; in opening the 
shells of the eggs in order to help the passage of the tardy 
chicks ; in pressing them, so soon as they are born, to eat 
against their will ; and in leaving them exposed to intense heat, 
or to cold and dampness, so long will their death, in the course 
of a month, be the undoubted consequence. It is less trouble 



Poultry. 139 

to say the breed is difficult to rear, than to acknowledge at once 
that negligence, unskillfulness, and barbarity are the causes." 

The principal requisites for the successful rearing of turkeys, 
according to the experienced author of the " Poulterer's Com- 
panion," are: 

1. Good stock to breed from, both male and female. Both 
should be large and fully grown. They ought to be at least 
two years old. 

2. Fresh blood, secured by changing the cock every year. 

3. Good keeping through the winter. 

4. No unnecessary interference with the process of incuba- 
tion, which lasts four weeks. 

5. Shelter, protection, and careful feeding of the chicks for a 
few weeks, after which the mother may be liberated from the 
coop to lead them out. 

Curd chopped fine, crumbs of bread softened in water or 
milk, are good for their first food ; but they will soon eat any- 
thing that is fit for the parent turkey, except unbroken grain. 

Early in the fall they should be fed night and morning with 
dry corn ; and when the weather becomes colder they may 
profitably be supplied at frequent intervals with boiled potatoes, 
mashed with corn meal and skimmed milk, given to them 
warm. On this diet they will grow and fatten rapidly. 

The turkey is an out-door bird and requires, at most, only an 
open . shed for shelter during severe storms, and even this will 
seldom be occupied if a good tree be at hand. They have not 
yet acquired all the effeminate artificial habits of the domestic 
fowl. 

The critical periods with the turkey are about the third day 
after they are hatched, and when they have thrown out the 
" red head," as it is called, which they do when about six weeks 
old. To carry them safely through the first, avoid overfeeding, 
and secure them against unfavorable changes of temperature. 
In the latter case, give them a plenty of food, and render it as 
nutritious as possible by adding boiled eggs, wheaten grits, 
bruised hemp seed, or bruised beans. 



140 



Domestic Animals. 



Cobbett says: "As to fattening turkeys, tbe best way is to 
never let them get poor. Barley meal mixed with skimmed 
milk and given them fresh will make them fat in a short time. 
Boiled potatoes mixed with corn meal will furnish a change of 
sweet food which they relish much, and of which they may 
eat as much as they can." 

IV.-THE DOMESTIC GOOSE. 

The domestic goose has acknowledged the sway of man for 
ages — perhaps since the days of Noah. Homer mentions them, 
where Penelope, relating her dream, says: "I have twenty 
geese at home, that eat wheat out of water, and I am delighted 
to look at them." Their cackling, it will be remembered, saved 

Fig 42. 




Poultry. 141 

fJome from the Gauls, b.o. 388. Their wild original is unknown, 
the wild geese of the present day being of a different species. 

Of the common domestic goose there is really but one vari- 
ety divided into several sub-varieties, marked by more or less 
permanent distinctive characteristics — of these the Toulouse 
goose and the Bremen goose are probably the best. The for- 
mer is gray and the latter white. The White China goose prob- 
ably belongs to a distinct species. It is a beautiful bird, but 
comes properly under the head of ornamental poultry, of which 
we have little to say. It can be kept with advantage only in 
a warm climate. 

"Where there are facilities for keeping them, geese are consid- 
ered the most profitable of all our domestic birds. The chief 
requisites for goose keeping are a pond or pool of water and a 
pasture for grazing. 

The domestic gander is polygamous, but should not, Mormon- 
like, be allowed an unlimited number of wives. Three is suf- 
ficient, and some recommend to allow only two geese to each 
gander. Comfortable and well-ventilated apartments should 
be provided for geese, so constructed as to secure them against 
rats, weasels, skunks, etc. A separate room for the sitting 
goose is desirable. Her period of incubation is about thirty 
days. Thirteen eggs are the usual number given to the goose. 
She always covers them when absent from the nest. 

" On the first day after the goslings are hatched," Mr. Bement 
says, "they may be let out, if the weather be warm, care being 
taken not to let them be exposed to the unshaded heat of the 
sun, which might kill them. The food given them is prepared 
with some barley or Indian meal coarsely ground, bran, and 
raspings of bread, which are still better if soaked and boiled in 
milk, or lettuce leaves and crusts of bread boiled in milk. On 
the second day a fresh-cut turf is placed before them, and its 
fine blades of grass or clover are the first objects wLich seem 
to tempt their appetites. A little boiled hominy and rice, with 
broad crumbs, form their food for the first few days, fresh 
water in a shallow vessel, which they can dabble in and out 



142 Domestic Animals. 

without difficulty, being duly provided. Afterward advantage 
must be taken of a fine warm sun to turn thern out on grasi 
for a few hours ; but if cold and damp, they should remain in 
their house, in which every attention should be paid to cleanli- 
ness by a constant supply of clean straw. After two weeks 
we cease these special precautions against exposure to the 
weather, and find them perfectly able to shift for themselves, 
in company with their mothers and the others of their race. 
For some weeks, however, extra supplies of food, such as bran 
or corn meal mixed with boiled or steamed vegetables, may be 
given them twice a day, morning and evening, continuing to 
give them this food till the wings begin to cross on the back, 
and after this, green food, which may be mixed with it, such 
as lettuce, cabbage, beet leaves, and such like. The pond is 
strictly forbidden them under all circumstances for the first twa 
weeks, and in severer weather for a longer period. Exposure 
to heavy rain out of doors, and a damp floor in the house where 
they are placed at night, are the main hazards to be avoided." 
One of the greatest sources of profit in goose keeping is the 
sale of the feathers ; but plucking them from the living geese 
is a practice so full of cruelty that we can not conscientiously 
give any directions for the process. A writer in one of the 
magazines recommends shearing instead of plucking. He 
says: "Feathers are but of a year's growth, and in the moult- 
ing season they spontaneously fall off, and are supplied by a 
fresh fleece. When, therefore, the geese are in full feather, let 
the plumage be removed, very close to the skin, by sharp scis- 
sors, clipping them off as sheep are shorn ; they will be renew- 
ed at moulting in the usual course of nature. The produce 
would not be much reduced in quantity, while the quality 
would be greatly improved, and an indemnification be experi- 
enced in the consciousness of not having tortured the poor bird, 
and in the uninjured health of the fowl, and the benefit obtaiu- 
ed in the succeeding crop. After this operation shall have 
been performed, the down from the breast may be removed 
by the same means." 



POTTLTBY. 143 

T.— THE DOMESTIC DUCK. 

The origin of the tame duck is not a well settled point. 
Dixon supposes it to have been imported from India and China 
in or about the year 1493. 

Of the numerous varieties known to the poulterer, Mr. 
Giles, of Woodstock, Conn., whom we have already had occa- 
sion to quote, recommends, for those who desire to keep ducks 
for use and not for ornament merely, the Rouen, the Java, and 
the Aylesbury. 

The Eouen duck, originally from Rouen, France, is of a 
dark-brown plumage ; legs and feet a dark dusky red ; bill at 
the base black, tapering down toward the point a dark green, 
sometimes streaked with yellow; long in the body, with a 
small neck. The drakes are invariably the color of the wild 
Mallard drake, having a white ring around the neck ; legs and 
feet a bright red ; bill a bright yellow ; flesh darker and higher 
flavored than the common duck. Very prolific, hardy, and 
easy to raise ; will weigh at full maturity from eighteen to 
twenty pounds a pair. 

The Java duck, originally from Java. Plumage a glossy 
black ; neck long ; round body ; legs and feet black, and black 
bill. Drakes are black, head and neck bordering on a dark 
green ; yellow bill ; with bright red legs and feet. The Java 
ducks will attain to nearly the same weight as the Rouens — ■ 
flesh similar. 

The Aylesbury duck, originally from the town of Aylesbury, 
England. Plumage a beautiful white, with white bill; legs 
and feet a bright pink, ornamental in appearance ; easy to 
propagate; producing white downy feathers, white skin, and 
delicate, savory flesh; will weigh from fifteen to eighteen pounds 
the pair. Sit the eggs under hens, and have them hatch out- 
early. With care you can have large ducks. 

The Wild Mallard duck is often domesticated. It is a very 
beautiful bird and becomes quite tame, rearing broods like the 
common duck; but no permanent tame race has yet been de- 
rived from them. 



144: Domestic Animals. 

The Musk or Brazilian duck is from the tropical regions ot 
South America. It is a singular bird in appearance and in 
habits, but we see little to recommend it, either for use or orna- 
ment. 

The "Wood duck, the most beautiful of its genus, so common 
in all parts of the North American continent, is also easily 
domesticated. It also will breed in its domesticated state. 

Ducks are easily kept where there is access to a pond, pool, 
stream, or swamp. They will eat almost anything, animal or 
vegetable. The refuse of the kitchen garden is always accept- 
able to them, and where grass is not attainable, something of 
this kind must be regularly supplied. 

; 'The duck-house," Bement says, "should, if possible, be of 
brick, and paved with the same material, with considerable in 
clina^ion, so that the wet, when the floor is sluiced down, may 
a* once pass off. Wood is seldom secure against rats, and does 
not so well suit the cleaning process of water and the lime- 
brush, and few places require their application more frequently. 
Do not crowd your birds, and always arrange for good venti- 
lation. When the flock is large, separate the young ones, that 
they may thus have the advantage of better food, and that no 
risk may be incurred of finding the eggs of the older ones trod- 
den under foot and broken at your morning visit. On this ac- 
count the laying ducks should always have plenty of room, and 
be kept by themselves. Ducks, for these reasons, as well as 
for the sake of cleanliness, should never share the habitation of 
fowls, and from geese they are liable to persecution. Yet, 
where fowls are kept, a little contrivance will suffice to make 
their berth, even in a fowl-house, tolerably comfortable. In 
winter, a thin bedding of straw or rushes should be placed on 
the floor, and frequently changed." 

The duck is a prolific layer, and her eggs are very rich and 
highly flavored, and are much relished by some persons. One 
duck's egg is considered of equal culinary value to two fowl's 
eggs. 

According to Mr. Parmentier, one drake is sufficient for 



(.46 Domestic Animals. 

eight or ten ducks, but others limit the number to from fom 
to six. 

Ducks are not so easily persuaded to lay in nests prepared 
for them, but prefer to choose a place out-of-doors to deposit 
their eggs. If the nest selected be tolerably secure, it is better 
to allow them to sit there than to attempt their removal. 
Thirteen eggs are a full allowance for a duck, and these should 
be as fresh as possible. The period of incubation varies con- 
siderably, but twenty-eight days is perhaps about the average 
time. The treatment of the young brood should be similar to 
that recommended for goslings. Boiled potatoes and hominy, 
or coarse corn meal, make excellent food for them. It is better- 
to give them no uncooked food for several weeks after they are 
hatched. 

To fatten ducks you must give them a plenty of good grain 
(corn and oats are to be preferred), and not allow them access 
to too much garbage. All fish and flesh, and especially putrid 
animal matter, of which they are fond, must be excluded from 
their diet, or the flavor of their flesh will be destroyed. 

VI.— PREPARATION OP POULTRY FOR MARKET. 

Messrs. Drew & French, extensive dealers in farm and 
market-garden produce, fruits, eggs, poultry, etc., 85 Barclay 
Street, New York, in answer to various inquiries addressed to 
them, carefully prepared and published, some time ago, the fol- 
lowing directions, which should be as carefully followed by all 
who send poultry to the city markets and wish to get the 
highest price for it : 

" First — Give no food for twenty-four hours previous to 
killing. Food in the crop is liable to sour, and always injures 
the sale. Purchasers objeot to paying for undigested food. 

" Second — ' Sticking' in the neck with a penknife is the best 
mode of killing. If the head is cut off, the skin recedes, and 
the neck bone looks repulsive. 

" Third — Most of the poultry coming to this market is badly 
scalded' or ' wet picked.' ' Dry picked' is preferred, and sella 



POTJLTET. 147 

a little higher, other things heing equal. Great care should 
be taken in picking to remove all the pin-feathers, and to avoid 
tearing the skin, particularly upon the legs, where it is most 
likely to he broken. If properly scalded, it looks best. 

" Fourth — The intestines should not be drawn. After pick- 
ing, the head may be taken off, and the skin drawn over the 
neck bone and tied. This is best, though much comes with 
heads on. 

"Fifth — Next in order, it should be 'plumped,' by being 
dipped about two seconds into water nearly or quite boiling 
hot, and then at once into cold water about the same length of 
time. Some think the hot plunge sufficient without the cold. 
It should be entirely cold but not frozen, before being packed. 
If it reaches market sound without freezing, it will sell all 
the better. 

" Sixth — For packing, if practicable, use clean hand-threshed 
rye straw. If this can not be had, wheat or oat straw will an- 
swer, if clean and free from dust. Place a layer of straw at 
the bottom of the box, tben alternate layers of poultry and 
straw — taking care to stow snugly, backs upward, filling vacan- 
cies with straw, and filling the package so that the cover will 
draw down snugly upon the contents. Boxes holding not over 
300 lbs. are the best packages. 

"Seventh — Number the packages; mark the contents of 
each on the cover ; place the invoice of the lot in one package, 
marked 'bill,' sending duplicate by mail; direct plainly to the 
consignee, placing the name of the consigner in one corner." 



148 



Domestic Animals. 



IX. 



BEE-KEEPING, 



Oh, Nature kind ! Oh, laborer -wise ! 

That roam'st along the summer ray, 
Glean'st ev'ry bliss thy life supplies, 

And meet'st prepared thy wintry day: 
Go — envied, go — with crowded gates, 
The hive thy rich return awaits ; 
Bear home thy store In triumph gay, 
And shame each idler on thy way. — Anon. 



I.— THE WONDEKS OF THE BEE-HIVE. 

HE accounts given, by naturalists and writers on 
bee-keeping, of tbe instincts and habits of the 
bee seem truly fabulous ; and yet they are all 
founded on observation, and there seems to be 
no reason for calling them in question. 
A hive of bees, we are told, consists of three kinds — females, 
males, and workers. The females are called queens, and only 




Fig. 44. 



Fig. 45. 




The Queen Bee. 



The Deone. 



one is permitted to live in the same hive ; but one is essential 
to its establishment and maintenance. The males are called 
drones, and may exist in hundreds, or even thousands, in a 



Bee-Keeping. 



149 




hive. The workers, or neuters, are the most numerous, and 
perform all the labor, collectiug the honey, secreting the wax, 
and building the cells. The females Fig. 46. 

and workers have stings at the end 
of the abdomen, but the drones have 
none. The queen lives in the inte- 
rior of the hive, and seldom leaves 
it except to lead forth a swarm. If 
she be removed from the hive, the 
whole swarm will follow her. The The Worker. 

queen is not only the governor, but also the mother of the com- 
munity, she being the only breeder out of 20,000 or 30,000 
bees, on which account she is loved, respected, and obeyed with 
all the external marks of devotion which human beings could 
give to a beloved monarch. 

The queen deposits her eggs in cells previously prepared by 
the workers to receive them. The eggs producing workers are 
deposited in six-sided horizontal cells ; the cells of the drones 
are somewhat irregular ; those of the queens are larger than 
the others, circular, and hang perpendicularly. The eggs pro- 
ducing workers are laid first, the queen laying about two hun- 
dred eggs daily. The eggs of the drones afterward laid are less 
numerous than those of the workers, in the proportion of about 
one to thirty. Eggs for queens are deposited in their proper cells, 
Fig. 47. one in each, at intervals of one or two days. 

The eggs and larvae of the royal family do not 
differ in appearance from those of the work- 
ers, but the young are more carefully nurs- 
ed, and fed with a more stimulating kind of 
food called "royal jelly," which causes them 
to grow so rapidly that in five days the larva 
is prepared to spin its web, and on the six- 
teenth day becomes a perfect queen. But 
as only one queen can reign in the hive, 
A Royal Cell. the young ones are kept close prisoners; and 
carefully guarded against the attacks of the queen mother 




150 



Domestic Animals. 



bo long as there is any prospect of her leading ont a swarm. 
When the old queen departs with a swarm, a young one is 
liberated, who immediately seeks the destruction of her sisters, 
but is prevented by the guards. If she lead forth anothei 
swarm, a second queen is liberated, and so on until further 
swarming is considered impossible, when the reigning queen is 
permitted to destroy her sisters. In cases where no new 
swarm is to be sent off, the queen mother is permitted to 
assume the office of destroyer. If at any time two queen* 
happen to come out simultaneously, it is said that a mortal 
combat takes place at once, and the victor is acknowledged tr> 
be the rightful sovereign. On the loss of a queen, the whole 
swarm is thrown into the greatest confusion, and if there be 
no worker eggs or brood out of which a queen can be made 
by the peculiar process of feeding already mentioned, all laboi 
ceases and the bees soon die. 

There are three substances for which the bees forage the 
fields. First, a resin, or gum, which is on trees; next, the 
pollen, or fine dust, of flowers ; and lastly, the saccharine mat- 
ter that is in the flowers. When the cells are to be built, they 
*»ring home the resin, and stop all the cracks or crevices in the 
Fig. 48. hive, so that neither the 

rain nor any insect can 
get in to trouble them. 
Then they set forth to 
bring materials for wax, 
to construct their cells. 
The wax is made from 
pollen. The bees swallow 
it, and then hang them- 
selves in festoons in the 
hive. In the course of 
twenty-four hours small 
rings make their appear- 

FeSTOONS OF BEES SeCEETING WAX. &nce Qn ^ body> rpj^ 

the bee detaches itself from the rest of the group, and, descend- 




Bee-Keeping. 



151 




Ing to the bottom of the hive, removes the substance which 
Fig. 49. has now become wax. Each bee fol- 

lows in its turn, and deposits its con 
tribution, which is directly made use 
of by the architects in building the 
cells. 

A Wax-Woekeb. The honey-cells are all six-sided, and 

of the most perfect regularity. Were they squares, or trian- 
gles, or circles, they would Fig. so. 
not fit as closely together, 
consequently there would 
be a waste of room. 

"There is a substance 
called bee bread, which is 
necessary to the life of the 
bee. " It is made from pol- 
len, but is entirely unlike 
wax. In securing it, the 
bee darts into a flower, Cells. 

and covers its body with the yellow dust. Now it must con- 
trive some way to get rid of it, and God has made the last joint 
but one of each leg like a brush. These brushes are passed all 
over the body, and the pollen is collected 
in two little heaps. The thighs of the last 
pair of the bees' legs are furnished with 
two cavities, and these make nice little bas- 
kets to carry home their treasure. The 
dust collected from a thousand flowers is 
now kneaded into little balls, and when 
these have increased to the size of a grain 
of pepper, the bee flies home, and enters 
the cell head foremost. The balls are then 
Bee's Leo Magnified, taken from the baskets, and, being moist- 
ened with a little honey, become bee bread." * 





* Student and 



152 



Domestic Animals. 



One of the greatest wonders of the bee-hive is the mode in 
which it is ventilated. Fresh air is no less necessary to bees 



Fig. 52. 




than to human beings, and as 
no provision is made for its sup- 
ply in the construction of their 
dwelling, they secure it in this 
way : " They arrange them- 
selves in files along the bottom 
of the hive. Those outside 
place their heads toward the 
entrance, and those within in 
an opposite direction. When 
i thus stationed, they flap their 
wings so rapidly that we can 

Glass Hite, Showing tiie Arrange- not see that they have any 
mentofComb. wings at all. This rapid motion 

drives a current of air into the hive, to keep the honey and 

comb cool." 

II.-THE APIARY AND HIVES. 

The situation selected for an apiary or bee-house should be 
well sheltered from strong winds, and should not be near any 
large sheet of water. The hives should face the south, the 
east, or the southeast. They should be placed in a right line ; 
and it is better to place them on shelves, one above another, 
than in rows upon the ground. The distance between the 
hives should be not less than two feet, and their height from 
the ground about the same. Near the apiary should be some 
small trees and shrubbery, on which swarms may alight; but 
large trees are objectionable. The grass should be frequently 
mowed, around the bee-house, to prevent dampness and destroy 
the lurking-places of noxious vermin. 

Much difference of opinion exists in reference to the best 
form and construction for a bee-hive, and many ingenious plans 
have been offered by the inventive genius of our country for 
their improvement. Some of these have peculiar excellences 



Bee-Keeping. 153 

and are worthy of a careful trial, but few if any of them are 
without some serious objections ; so that practical bee-keepers 
generally prefer hives of the simplest construction. One of the 
best hives is made of pine boards an inch or an inch and a 
quarter thick. The best size is twelve inches square inside and 
fourteen inches deep. The top should be made of boards fifteen 
inches square. The boards should be joined carefully, and it is 
well to apply a coat of paint to the edges before putting them 
together. Small notches should be made at the bottom for the 
passage of the bees ; and cross sticks put in for the support of 
the comb. If the inside of the hive be planed and covered with 
a thin coating of melted beeswax, it will save the bees much 
labor. Boxes for caps or covers may be fitted to these hives. 
These may be about seven inches deep and twelve square. 
They must fit closely the tops of the hives, and may be furnished 
with glass jars or other vessels for the reception of the honey. 
Several holes should be made in the top of the hive for the pas- 
sage of the bees. 

In Poland, where finer honey is produced and bees more 
successfully cultivated than anywhere else, the excavated trunks 
of trees are used for hives. Logs a foot or more in diameter 
and nine feet long are scooped or bored for the length of six 
feet from one end, the bore being from six to eight inches in 
diameter. A longitudinal slit is made in this hollow cylinder 
nearly the whole length and four inches wide. Into this slit is 
fitted a slip of wood with notches on the edges large enough to 
admit a single bee. This slip is hung on hinges and forms a 
door, by the opening of which the condition of the swarm can 
be seen and the honey be taken out. The top being covered, 
the trunk is set upright, with the opening toward the south. 
Sections of hollow trees are often used in this country for hives. 

It is often desirable to carry honey to market without re- 
moving it from the hive in which it was made, and as few 
persons will purchase the contents of a large hive, one con- 
structed in sections has a great advantage in that particular at 
least. 

?* 



154 



Domestic Animals. 



According to the views of Mr. Harasti, a skillful bee-cultiva- 
tor, as quoted in the "Farmer's Encyclopedia," a good bee-hive 
ought to possess the following properties : First, it should be 
capable of enlargement or contraction according to the size of 
the swarm. Secondly, it should admit of being opened with- 
out disturbing the bees, either for the purpose of cleaning it 
from insects, increasing or dividing the swarm, etc. Thirdly, 
it should be so constructed that the produce may be removed 
without injury to the bees. Fourthly, it should be internally 
clean, smooth, and free from cracks or flaws. All these prop- 
erties seem best united in the section-hive, which is constituted 
of two, three, four, or more 
square boxes of similar size 
as to width, placed over 
each other. Such hives 
are cheap, and so simple 
that almost any one can 
construct them. 

The boxes A, B, 0, D 
may be made from ten to 
fourteen inches square and 
about five inches in depth, 
inside measure. Every 
bee-keeper should have his 
A Sectional Hive. boxes made of the same 

size, so as to fit on to each other. Every hive must have a 
common top-board, a, which should project over the sides of the 
hive. The top-board of each section should have about sixteen 
holes bored through at equal distances from each other, and not 
larger than three fourths or smaller than four fifths of an inch. 
Or, instead of such holes, chinks of proper size may be cut 
through to allow the bees to pass up and down. At the lower 
part of each box or section, in front, there must be an aperture 
or little door, c, e, c, d, just high enough to let the bees pass, 
and about an inch and a half wide. The lowermost aperture, 
d, is to be left open at first, and when the hive is filled the upper 




Bee-Keeping. 



155 




ones may be successively opened. By placing over the holes in 
the top of the upper section, glass globes, jars, tumblers, or 
boxes, the bees will rise into aDd fill them with honey. These 
may be removed at any time after being filled. The holes in the 
tops of the hive which do not open into the glasses or boxes 
should of course be plugged up. These glass jars, etc., must 
be covered over with a box, so as to keep them in the dark. 
Every box or section, on the side opposite the little door, 
should have a narrow piece of glass inserted, with a sliding 
shutter, by drawing out which the condi- ■ Fig. 54. 
tion of the hive can always be inspected. 
To make the bees place their combs in par- 
allel lines, five or six sticks or bars may be 
placed at the top of every section, running 
from front to rear. The bees will attach 
their combs to these bars, and the interme- 
diate space will afford sufficient light to see them work. The 
slides covering the glasses should never be left open longer than 
is just necessary for purposes of inspection. 

When one section is removed from the top, a wire or long 
thin knife must be previously run between this and the one 
immediately below, so as to destroy the attachments. Then 
remove the upper section, placing the top upon the one below, 
which is now the highest division of the hive. Another section 
is to be placed beneath, lifting up the whole hive for the pur- 
pose. Sometimes a second section has to be put under during 
a good season. If the swarm is not very large, three or even 
two boxes will be sufficient for its accommodation. The boxes 
or sections may be secured upon each other by buttons, &, i, 
or rabbets, and the joints closed with cement. 

The plan of Mr. Luda, of Connecticut, by which the bees are 
made to build their cells and deposit their honey in the cham- 
ber of a dwelling-house appropriated for the purpose, in neat 
little drawers, from which it may be taken fresh by the owner, 
without killing the bees, has obtained deserved celebrity. The 
hive has the appearance of, and is, in part, a mahogany bureau 



156 Domestic Animals. 

or sideboard, with drawers above and a closet below, with 
glass doors. This case or bureau is designed to be placed in 
the chamber of a house, or any other suitable building, and 
oonnected with the open air or outside of the house by a tube 
passing through the wall. The bees work and deposit their 
honey in drawers. When these or any of them are full, or it 
is desired to obtain honey, one or more of them may be taken 
out, the bees allowed to escape into the other parts of the hive, 
and the honey taken away. The glass doors allow the work- 
ing of the bees to be observed ; and it is said that the spacious- 
ness, cleanliness, and even the more regular temperature of 
such habitations, render them the more industrious and suc- 



III.-GENEKAL DIRECTIONS. 

1. Swarming. — Huish, in his "Treatise on Bees," says: 
" The swarming of bees generally commences in June ; in some 
seasons earlier, and in cold climates or seasons later. The first 
swarming is so long preceded by the appearance of drones and 
hanging out of working bees, that if the time of their leaving 
the hive is not observed it must be owing to want of care. 
The signs of the second are, however, more equivocal, the 
most certain being that of the queen, a day or two before 
swarming, at intervals of a few minutes, giving out a sound a 
good deal resembling that of a cricket. It frequently happens 
that the swarm will leave the old hive and return again several 
times, which is always owing to the queen not having accom- 
panied them, or from having dropped on the ground, being too 
young to fly to a distance. Gooseberry, currant, or other low 
bushes, should be planted at a short distance from the hives, 
for the bees to swarm upon, otherwise they are apt to fly 
away." 

When they collect where they can not be shaken off and the 
hive can not be placed near them, they may be brushed off 
into a gauze sack, or any vessel in which they can be kept and 
carried to the hive, which should be set upon a table a littl© 



Bee-Keeping. 157 

raised on one side to allow their passage. If seen before they 
alight, they may often be secured by drawing a large woolen 
stocking upon the end of a pole and holding it up among them, 
as they are apt to consider it a favorable object on which to 
collect. 

"When a hive yields more than two swarms, these should 
uniformly be joined to others that are weak, as, from the late- 
ness of the season and deficiency in number, they will other- 
wise perish. This junction is easily formed, by inverting at 
night the hive in which they are, and placing over it the one 
you intend them to enter. They soon ascend, and apparently 
with no opposition from the former possessors. Should the 
weather for some days after swarming be unfavorable for the 
bees going out, they must be fed with care until it clears up, 
otherwise the young swarm will run great risk of dying." 

Some recommend drawing off swarms without waiting for 
them to set forth of their own accord. We find the process 
thus described in the Southern Homestead : 

"Those who are using a common hive when desiring to 
draw off a swarm, should let the hive be turned bottom up- 
ward, and the new hive set upon it ; strike lightly upon the 
lower hive, and many of the bees will ascend into the upper 
hive ; when a sufficient number has collected in the new hive 
for a swarm, take it off and set it upon the bench, and return 
the old one to its former position. In doing this, to insure 
success, it is necessary that one of the queens should accompany 
the new swarm, which may be known in the course of a day 
or two, for if they have no queen, they will not stay in the 
new hive, but will return to the old one ; but if they have a 
queen, they soon manifest a disposition to commence work, and 
in the course of twenty-four hours some of the bees may be 
seen standing near the entrance of the hive, amusing themselves 
by raising their bodies to the full length of their legs, and giv- 
ing their wings a rapid motion, making a steady buzzing 
noise. This may be considered as an indication of their satis- 
faction and the success of the operation. Some consider mid- 



158 Domestic Animals. 

day the most favorable time for doing this ; others again prefer 
the evening — but either will answer, and the trouble attending 
is not greater than that of hiving them when the swarms are 
allowed to come out in the common manner, and the danger of 
having them go off is avoided. Another very great advantage 
of this method is, the young swarms commence working early, 
by which they are more likely to lay up sufficient food for the 
winter." 

2. Rolling the Ekes. — The old practice, still followed by 
many, is to kill the bees by suffocation, whenever the most 
favorable time has arrived for taking the honey. To suffocate 
the bees, the hive is inverted over an empty hive or a hole in 
the ground in which some rags smeared with sulphur are burn- 
ing. The bees drop down and are buried to prevent resuscita- 
tion. This is believed by some shrewd and experienced bee- 
keepers to be the most profitable if not the most humane plan. 

Polish apiarists cut out the comb annually to lessen the 
tendency to swarming, and thus obtain the largest amount of 
honey. In sectional hives it is readily taken out without killing 
the bees ; and where these improved hives, as they are called, 
are not used, the comb may be cut out by merely stupefying 
the bees with sulphur or tobacco smoke. The time for taking 
up hives depends somewhat upon the season and pasturage; 
but the quantity of honey does not generally increase after the 
first of September. 

3. Wintering. — To winter safely a swarm of bees, thirty 
pounds of honey are considered requisite. Only strong swarms 
are profitable to winter ; therefore those that are found in the 
fall to be weak in numbers and with little honey had better be 
taken up. In the northern portions of the United States means 
are generally used to protect the swarms in winter, by removal 
to some cool and dry out-house or cellar ; but many apiarists 
contend that this practice is not only useless but hurtful, and 
that hives should not be removed from their usual situations. 

4. Feeding. — Bees are sometimes fed, when not able to sup- 
ply their own wants, with a syrup made by dissolving brown 



Bee-Keeping. 159 

sugar in water and then boiling it to evaporate the water. 
Honey is the best food, but is generally (unless " Southern" or 
West India honey be used) too expensive ; and, in fact, as a 
matter of profit, feeding should never be attempted. 

5. Killing the Drones. — Knowing that the drones consume 
an immense amount of honey without producing any, and be- 
lieving that a few of them will answer all the purposes required, 
Mr. P. J. Mahan, of Philadelphia, recommends getting rid of 
them, and thus saving the honey that they would consume. 
His plan for accomplishing this is to cut out the comb contain- 
ing the cells in which they are to hatch. This, he says, is dif- 
ficult in the common or box-hive and quite impossible in nearly 
all patent hives ; but quite easy in Eev. L. L. Langstroth's 
Movable Comb Hive, in which the combs are built in a frame, 
similar to a slate or a picture in a frame, which being suspend- 
ed on a narrow rabbet do not touch or come in contact with 
the hive at the top, bottom, or sides. Old combs can be put 
into the frames and be given to the bees to fill for their own 
use or for breeding combs. 

" By cutting out the combs referred to," Mr. Mahan contin- 
ues, "the bee-keeper makes a saving of all the honey fed to 
them before they are matured ; the time occupied by the bees 
in feeding and nursing them ; and last, though not least, assum- 
ing one foot as the average, which is capable of producing over 
4,000 drones, by destroying this there is space sufficient to build 
combs in which 7,200 cells for hatching the workers will be 
erected ; which, as we have done away with the drones, is fully 
equal to an accession of 14,400 working'bees."* 

This matter is certainly worthy of the attention of bee-keep- 
ers, and should be fully investigated.! 

* Southern Planter. 

t A large portion of the matter in th s chap ier, not credited to other sources, 
has been condensed from the excellent articles on " Bees and Bee-Keeping," 
ia the " New American Encyclopedia." 



APPENDIX 



HORSE-TAMING-KAREY'S SYSTEM. 

1. The Theory. 

Thk one principle which you must establish firmly in your mind, and whicft 
is so essential in horse-taming that it is almost the corner-stone of the theory 
is the law of kindness. Next to kindness you must have patience, and next to 
patience indomitable perseverance. With these qualities in us, and not pos- 
sessing fear or anger, we undertake to tame horses, with perfect assurance of 
success, if we use the proper means. The horse receives instruction in, and 
by the use of, four of his senses— namely, seeing, hearing, smelling, and feel- 
ing. You must remember that the horse is a dumb brute, has not the faculty 
of reasoning on experiments that you make on him, but is governed by instinct. 
In a natural state he is afraid of man, and never, until you teach him that you 
do not intend to hurt him, will that fear cease — we mean that wild, natural fear 
—for you must have him fear you as well as love you, before you can absorb his 
attention as much as is necessary to break him to your liking. It is a principle 
in the nature of a horse not to offer resistance to our wishes, if made known in 
a way that he understands, and in accordance with the laws of his nature. 

In subjugating the horse, we must make a powerful appeal to his intelligence. 
This can only be done by a physical operation. It is an undisputed fact that 
the battles of all animals (except such as are garnished with horns) are fought 
by seizing each other by the throat. A dog that has been thus held by his an- 
tagonist for a few minutes, on being released, is often so thoroughly cowed that 
no human artifice can induce him to again resume the unequal contest. This 
is the principle upon which horse-taming is founded. 

2. Practical Utiles. 

1. Choking— First Ifethod.— Choking a horse is the first process in taming, 
and is but the beginning of his education. By its operation a horse becomes 
docile, and will thereafter receive any instruction which he can be made to un- 
derstand. Teaching the animal to lie down at our bidding, tends to keep him 
permanently cured, as it is a perpetual reminder of his subdued condition. 

It requires a good deal of practice to tame a horse successfully ; also a nice 



162 



Appendix. 



judgment to know when he is choked sufficiently, as there is a bare possibility 
that he might get more than would be good for him. We advise persons not 
perfectly familiar with a horse to resort rather to the strapping and throwing- 
down process (unless he is very vicious) described below ; this, in ordinary 
cases, will prove successful. It is the fault of most people who have owned a 
horse to imagine that they are expert in his management; while, on the con- 
trary, many professional horsemen are the very worst parties to attempt a sub- 
jugation. Unless a man have a good disposition, he need not attempt horse- 
taming. 

In practicing the method exhibited in fig. 55, retire with the animal to be 
operated upon into a close stable, with plenty of litter upon the floor (tan-bark 



Fig. 55 




or sawdust is preferable). In 
the first place fasten up the left 
fore-leg with the arm strap, m 
such a manner that it will be 
permanently secured. Then 
take abroad strap and bnckle 
and pass it around the neck 
just back of the jaw-bone. 
Draw the strap as tight as 
possible, so tight as to almost 
arrest the horse's breathing. 
The strap must not be buck- 
led, but held in this position 
to prevent slipping back. The 
animal will struggle for a few 
minutes, when he will become 
perfectly quiet, overpowered 
by a sense of suffocation : the 
veins in his head will swell ; his eyes lose their fire ; his knees totter and be> 
come weak ; a slight vertigo will ensue, and growing gradually exhausted, by 
backing him around the stable, he will come down on his knees, in which po- 
sition it is an easy matter to push him on his side, when his throat should be 
released. Now pat and rub him geutly for about twenty minutes, when, in 
most instances, he will be subdued. It is only in extreme cases necessary to 
repeat the operation of choking. The next lesson is to teach him to lie down 
which is described in the account of the fourth method of taming. No horse 
can effectually resist the terrible effects of being choked. 

It must be constantly borne in mind, that the operator must not be boisterous 
or violent, and that the greatest possible degree of kindness is absolutely es- 
Bential. When the horse is prostrate, he should be soothed until his eyes show 
that be has become perfectly tranquil. 

2. Second Jfetkod.— The plan described in fig. 56 is very simple, though not 
as expeditious as the previous one. Buckle or draw a strap tight around the 
neck, lift a fore-leg, and fasten around it the opposite end of the strap, the 
shorter the better. In the engraving, for the sake of clearness, the strap ii 



Appendix, 



163 



represented too long. It will be seen that in this plan the horse is made the 
Instrument by which the punishment is inflicted. When he attempts to put 




his foot aown, his head goes with it, and he thus chokes himself. Care should 
be taken that he does not pitch on his head, and thus endanger his neck. 

3. Tliird Method. — Secure the horse with a stout halter to the manger. If 
extremely unruly, muz- jpj g- 57, 
zle him. Sooth him 
with the hands for a 
few minutes, until he 
becomes somewhat pa- 
cified. Then seize him 
by the throat (as in fig. 
57), close to the jaw- 
bone, with the right 
hand, and by the mane 
with the left. Now forc- 
ibly compress his wind- 
pipe until he becomes 
so exhausted that, by 
lightly kicking him on 
the fore legs, he will lie 
down, after which he 
should be treated as 
previously described. This process requires courage in the operator, and als« 
great muscular strength. 

4. Fourth Method.— The horse to be operated upon should be led into a close 
stable. The opo._tor should be previously provided with a stout leather hal- 
ter ; a looped strap to slip over the animal's knee ; a strong surcingle, and a 
long and short strsp— the first to fasten round the fore-foot which is at liberty. 




164 Appendix. 

and the second to permanently secure the leg which is looped up. The appli- 
cation of the straps will be better understood by reference to fig. 5S. 

In the first place, if the horse be a biter, muzzle him ; then lift and bend his 
left fore-leg, and slip a loop over it. The leg which is looped up must be secur- 
ed by applying the short strap, buckling it around the pastern joint and fore- 
arm ; next put on the surcingle, and fasten the long strap around the right fore- 
foot, and pass the end through a loop attached to the surcingle ; after which 
fasten on a couple of thick leather knee-pads— these can be put on in the first 
place if convenient. The pads are necessary, as some horses in their struggles 
come violently on their knees, abrading them badly. Now take a short hold 
of the long strap with your right hand ; stand on the left side of the horse, 
grasp the bit in your left hand ; while in this position back him gently about 
the stable, until he becomes so exhausted as to exhibit a desire to lie down, 
•which desire should be gratified with as little violence as possible ; bear your 



Fig. 58. 




weight firmly against the shoulder of the horse, and pull steadily on the strap 
with your right hand ; this will force him to raise his foot, which should be im- 
mediately pulled from under him. This is the critical moment ; cling to the 
horse, and after a few struggles he will lie down. In bearing against the ani- 
mal do not desist from pulling and pushing until you have him on his side. 
Prevent him from attempting to rise by pulling his head toward his shoulder. 
As soon as he is done struggling, caress his face and neck ; also, handle every 
part of his body, and render yourself as familiar as possible. After he has lain 
quietly for twenty minutes let him rise, and immediately repeat the operation, 
removing the straps as soon as he is down ; and if his head is pulled toward his 
shoulder it is impossible for him to get up. After throwing him from two to 
five times the animal will become as submissive and abject as a well-trained 
dog, and you need not be afraid to indulge in any liberties with him. A young 
horse is subdued much quicker than an old one, as his habits arc not confirm- 
ed. An incorrigible horse should have two lessons a day ; about the fourth 



Appendix. 165 

lesson lie will be permanently conquered. If the operation is repeated several 
times, he can be made to lie down by simply lifting up his fore-leg and repeat- 
ing the words, " Lie down, sir," which he must be previously made familiar 
with. 

5. Additional Hints.— The following rules will serve as a guide to the ama- 
teur operator, and should be strictly observed : 

First. The horse must not be forced down by violence, but must be tired out 
till he has a strong desire to lie down. 

Second. He must be kept quiet on the ground until the expression of the eye 
shows that he is tranquillized, which invariably takes place by patiently waiting 
and gently patting the horse. 

Third. Care must be taken not to throw the horse upon his neck when bent, 
as it may easily be broken. 

Fourth. In backing him, no violence must be used, or he may be forced on 
his haunches, and his back broken. 

Fifth. The halter and off-rein are held in the left hand, so as to keep the 
head away from the latter ; while, if the horse attempts to plunge, the halter is 
drawn tight, when, the off-leg being raised, the animal is brought on hie knees, 
and rendered powerless for offensive purposes.— New York Tribwn*. 



INDEX 



PAGE 

&m. The , 45 

Apiary , 152 

a, 

Buyers, Hints to 42 

Barns and Sheds 82 

Breeds, Improvement of 108 

Breeding In-and-in 109 

" Hints on 112 

Bee-Keeping 148 

Bee-Hive, "Wonders of 148 

Bees, Swarming of 156 

" General Management of 156 

c - 

Cattle, Breeds of 49 

" Devon 51 

" Hereford 53 

" Sussex 54 

" Ayrshire 54 

" Welsh 55 

" Irish 55 

" Bong Horn 56 

" Short Horn 56 

" Alderney 59 

" Galloway 59 

" Cream-Pot 60 

" Points of 61 

" General Management 65 

" Weight of Live 71 

Calves, Bearing 79 

~ 110 

D. 

Diseases of Animals 114 

Duck, The 143 

E. 
Ewe, Anecdote of 93 

F. 

Feeding Horses 31 

" Sheep 84 

" Cattle 66 

" Swine 104 

" Fowls 134 



PAO» 

Fowl The Domestic IIS 

" Spanish 119 

" Dorking 121 

" Polish 123 

" Hamburg 124 

" Dominique 126 

" Leghorn 127 

" Cochin China 129 

" Bantam 129 

" Game 132 

" Mongrel 132 

" Accommodations for 133 

" Feeding 134 

" The Guinea 137 

G. 

Guinea Fowl, The 137 

Goose, The 149 



se, Breeds of 10 

TheEacer 11 



Arabian , 



12 

Morgan 14 

Canadian 16 

Norman 16 

Cleveland Bay 19 

Conestoga Is 

Clydesdale 19 

Virginia 19 

Wild 2« 

American Trotting 20 

Points of 21 

Color of 26 

How to Feed 31 

General Management of . . . 35 

Vices and Habits 3S 

How to Tame 161 

Hives 152 



Mule, The 46 

" Trade in Kentucky 47 



168 



Index. 



p. 

Piggery , 

Poultry 

" Pentalogue 

" Preparation of for Market 

S. 
Sheep, Breeds of 

" Native 

" Spanish Merino 

" Saxon do 

" New Leicester 

" South-Down 

" Cheviot 

" Lincoln 

" Choice of Breed 

" General Management of.. 

" Value of to the Farmer. . . 
Swine, Natural History of. 



Swine, Opinions respecting 07 

" Breeds. 99 

" The Land Pike 99 

" Chinese 99 

" Berkshire 10d 

" Suffolk nil 

" Essex 109 

" Chester 103 

" Points of J i 4 

" Feeding 104 

Stables 29 

Swarming ISO 

T. 

Turkey 133 

Taming Horses lfit 

•w 
Animals Ill 



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